You remind me of him
by Traitor of All Traitors
Summary: Yue might've lost Sokka and the world has lost Aang, but a new Avatar shows signs of having the best (and worst) of both men. Meet Korra, Yue and Sokka's great-granddaughter and Aang's reincarnation. The two primary characters are Yue and Korra. It's old friends and new friends in this new world.
1. Chapter 1: You remind me of him

Creation began on 03-09-13

Creation ended on 06-04-13

The Legend of Korra

You remind me of him

A/N: I'm giving this new story a shot with everything that has happened in the previous story. To avoid mistaken identity situations, Avatar Korra, when using just her given name, will be written with (the girl) after her name to show her speaking. Let's get it on!

_"I'm the Avatar! You gotta deal with it!" _Yue, now thirteen years older than she was after hearing that her great-granddaughter, Korra, was discovered to be the new Avatar after Aang's passing, recalled the girl's declaration of being the new Avatar.

_She's progressed tremendously over the years,_ she thought to herself, seeing her teenage great-granddaughter Firebend against her instructors to display her apparent mastery of the third elemental art, and winced at Korra knocking them down. _Ooh! Okay, that's something that runs in the family._

"Brings back memories, doesn't it?" She heard an older Katara ask her, who looked much older than she did, the spitting image of her grandmother.

"Yes," she answered her, and then it was determined that Korra had learned enough of the Firebending disciplines to be considered a master of the art, leaving Airbending the last one she needed to learn before being a fully-realized Avatar. "It certainly brings back memories."

-x-

Yue could've volunteered to teach Korra Airbending, having been instructed by Aang himself in her years of youth (and was still fit to travel around), but she and Katara had decided that it would be best if Korra learned the art from another Airbender that could also teach her the spiritual side of being the Avatar, something she had neglected over the years, and there was no one more equipped than Rohan, Aang and Katara's fourth grandchild, as their only Airbending son, Tenzin, wasn't as quick as he used to be now that he was past his prime. Though Yue was sure to teach Korra some of what she knew once the young girl had managed to perform some measure of Airbending sufficient enough to perform higher feats…and, if possible, bestow upon the new Avatar a gift she was certain would help her in the future after her spiritual training had taken root in her conscious.

"Grr!" Yue and her great-granddaughter, whom were now feeding the Polar Bear Dog known as Naga, turned to face the giant Flying Bison that moved at a similar speed as her owner did, but was equally fit enough to travel. "Grr!"

"Eh-ha-ha! Okay, Korra," went Korra (the girl) to the bison, and picked up a large stack of hay.

"She hates feeling left out," Yue expressed, stroking her bison on the left side of her head.

"Say, Yue," Korra (the girl) expressed, "how long do you think it'll be before Rohan arrives?"

"It's anyone's guess, but he should be here in about three days. Air Temple Island is about a three-day journey between the South Pole and Republic City."

"What's Republic City like, Yue?"

"It's a large smelting pot of culture from the Four Nations. Work and effort are what separate the wealthy from the ones that live in poverty and must put more effort in their chosen professions. Lately, after Aang's passing, the city isn't all that it used to be: Civil unrest is at an insufferable high and the council has its workload increased tenfold. The one thing I can't stand about it are the triads that muscle in on people and demand payment. Among the more pleasant things about the city, Pro-Bending tournaments are about the most popular events that take place. Heh…I remember how Tenzin behaved toward the game when he saw how much the art of bending had changed in the decades with the founding of the United Republic of Nations. He viewed it as a perversion of ancient arts, to a degree that Aang had asked me to take him to a few of the tournament rounds that were going on in a year, even to explain why Airbending hasn't been introduced to Pro-Bending, as it's barely restricted as the other bending arts are."

"I once heard a rumor that Tenzin didn't take kindly toward you," Korra (the girl) expressed, hearing one time that the youngest son of Avatar Aang distrusted a member of the Water Tribes that could Airbend. "Is that true?"

"Very," Yue expressed with a chuckle, remembering the months where Tenzin thought she was odd in how she was able to bend two of the four elements, a feat that, to this very day, no other bender beneath the Avatar could perform. "He once said I disgrace and pervert a sacred art outside my heritage. For a while, I ignored his would-be disgust and resentment…but one day… Heh… He went too far. Sokka and Aang almost got into a conflict because of it, but I had to draw the line and faced Tenzin on why he really didn't like me at the time. We were both, more of less, people of the same mixed heritage; he had a mother from the Water Tribes and a father from the Air Nomads, I had ancestors that were of Air Nomad ancestry within the Water Tribes. He knew of his heritage before he could even bend, before he was even old enough to understand it completely, whereas, I found out about my mixed heritage during the end of the One-Hundred Year War, and went through a short course of learning Waterbending and Airbending to aid in ending the war. _'Is it really the fact that I can Airbend that makes you dislike me…or is it the fact that, despite being of Air Nomad descent, I didn't follow the traditions of the Air Nomads?' _I had asked him, and he didn't know how to answer that question. I didn't blame him for not being able to answer. He took many things serious, so he never knew how to develop a sense of humor, something the Air Nomads are well known for. Though, I suppose he gets his seriousness more from from Katara than from Aang. I forgave his  
behavior toward me and he learned to accept me as I am. It's funny now, but I recall those times as though they were only yesterday."

"Grr," the elder's bison growled, also recalling those times.

"Sounds like the family has gone through bad weather on more than one occasion after the restoration of the Four Nations and the creation of the United Republic of Nations," the young Avatar stated. "I can't wait to meet my distant relatives."

"You're sure to like Rohan, Meelo, Ikki and Jinora. I thought I was going to die of a heart attack when I met them each year. Jinora's actually the maturest one of them because she's always quiet, though Rohan is just as quiet, but always has something to say. If I had to say this about Aang's grandchildren, I'd believe they each represented a different side of him when he was younger: Jinora being knowledgeable on history and culture, Ikki being goofy and talkative, Meelo being carefree and humorous, and Rohan being…almost like his grandfather when he needed to be serious, just like his father. Heh-heh… Those were good times."

Once they were finished feeding the Polar Bear Dog and Flying Bison, the younger and elder woman took them out for a race across the snowy wasteland.

"The last one to the Southern Water Tribe City buys lunch!" Korra (the girl) told her great-grandmother as she rode away on Naga.

"You're on!" Yue responded, and patted her bison on her head. "Yip-yip!"

"Grr!" Korra growled, and sped up a little.

The Polar Bear Dog couldn't hope to beat the larger Flying Bison, who could move in the air faster than it did on the ground. As the large, snowy beauty that was the central city of the South Pole was becoming clearer to the benders and their animal familiars, the bison suddenly flew slower and lowered closer to the ground, whilst the Polar Bear Dog wasn't deterred.

"Korra?" Yue asked her bison, worried. "Korra?!"

Naga and her owner had reached the front gate of the city, but the Water Tribe Avatar had no time to cheer or boast her victory over her great-grandmother, as she felt a sudden vibration in the snow. She turned around and saw the bison that bore the same name as she had crashed into the ground.

"Oh!" She gasped, and rode Naga to the crash site. "Yue! Korra!"

Yue, having held onto the saddle, was still atop her bison, who was panting from either overexertion…or her advanced age.

"Ooh… Korra?" She called out to her bison, climbing off her saddle and toward her head. "Korra?"

"Grr…" The bison responded.

"Grandmother!" The Avatar called as she and Naga arrived and were immediately followed by several people that saw the incident.

Korra then started to get up, slowly at first, but was able to stand up on her six legs; regardless of whether it was overexertion or her advanced age, the bison seemed to despise showing weakness in front of Yue.

-x-

"…So, it was just that she wasn't being fed enough," Yue told her great-grandchild, eating seaweed noodles. "It had nothing to do with her age or anything."

"I still thought I had fed her enough when I gave her that pile of hay," Korra (the girl) told her grandmother. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You didn't know. I'm the only woman in the Water Tribes that has a Flying Bison, so not many would understand anything about their eating habits or diet. My first daughter, Sora, spent much of her time learning among the Air Nomads and Air Acolytes when she was twelve years old, so she wasn't around much, except on birthdays, holidays…and…Sokka's passing and memorial service."

Korra noticed a hint of sadness in her voice when she spoke of her great-grandfather, whom she had never met. Sometimes, she wondered how much his passing had affected Yue on the emotional level.

"Tell me," she spoke up, "what was Sokka like?"

"Oh, uh… He was funny," Yue stated, "and goofy…and smart, sarcastic, serious when he needed to be…and he went out of his way to protect others however he could. He was also a skilled warrior whose greatest advantages were his creativity…and to never give up quickly."

Korra could almost imagine a day when the afternoon sun was shining brightly upon tall structures and many people, but the problem with her imagination was that she saw a man doing something that looked like it was Bloodbending, an illegal skill that carried a heavy price, more on the user than the people it was used on, and there was one man that paid the ultimate price when he stood up to him. She couldn't make out much of the other man's details, but saw him wielding a large, black sword with the word 'gentleman' engraved upon the blade and a boomerang.

"Great-Grandfather," she uttered, only hearing bits about him during her early childhood, but never a lot to make sense of him, "he…he had a black sword and a boomerang, did he not?"

_But…she hasn't even seen a picture of him,_ Yue mentally gasped, but then she suspected that it was a trait Korra possessed as the Avatar, subtle recollection of Avatars past, so she could recall the memories of Aang, who was present the day Sokka died facing Yakone, to a small degree. "Yes. He did have a sword with a black blade and a boomerang. But…how did you know that?"

"I just…knew it somehow," she confessed. "I…saw him facing a guy in a place with tall structures, and there were dozens of people screaming. It was as if I were actually there, that what was going on had actually taken place."

"Tall structures… Republic City. With the combined advances of Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom architecture, the United Republic could build taller buildings that surpassed the walls of Ba Sing Se. They called them skyscrapers."

Once they were finished eating, Yue, as she and her bison lost the race, paid for the meal and stepped out of the restaurant with Korra; even though her great-granddaughter was the Avatar, and therefore was stated to not need any degree of worldly possessions, Yue didn't think having some pocket change was a violation of such ancient beliefs. They went to the animal farm where the aged bison was resting after eating a larger amount of hay and seaweed, replenishing her strength.

"How's my giant Korra doing?" Yue asked her bison in a babyish tone.

"Grr," the bison greeted them, getting back on her legs and kneeling for the aged woman to climb atop her into the saddle.

"Looks like she's feeling better," Korra (the girl) expressed, glad that her great-grandmother's Sky Bison was in good health.

-x-

"Grr!" Yue heard Korra growl, as the next day was the day was the day they saw another Flying Bison in Water Tribe territory, with at least five people riding in the saddle while a sixth person was riding atop the bison's head. "Grr!"

"Grrrr!" The other bison growled in the distance.

"They're here," Korra (the girl) expressed, having almost lost her patience with waiting.

"We're really going to have to work on your patience," Yue told her, just as Katara had shown up to greet the extended family.

As the new bison landed on the snow outside the compound where Korra (the girl) spent her days mastering the elements, the elder women took notice of the young man that directed the bison as he got off. They were surprised by his appearance; he looked like Aang did in his early-twenties!

"No," Katara was awed. "Rohan?"

"Hello, Grandmother, Aunt Yue," he greeted, bowing his head, just as an elderly man and woman were being aided off the bison's back by another young man and a young lady, both of whom had the markings of Airbending Masters on their hands and heads.

"Tenzin? Pema?" Yue greeted the elders that were younger than Katara and she; Tenzin, who was in his late-seventies by now, had a beard that was turning gray and now needed a cane to support himself while Pema, not as old as her husband or in-laws were, was a little on the fragile side. "How have you two been since we last met?"

"Well," Pema answered her. "Is that who I think it is?"

"Hmm?" Katara and Yue turned to face Korra (the girl), who was quiet at the sight of the relatives.

"This is Korra," Katara introduced the family member and newest Avatar.

"Tenzin, Pema, Rohan, Ikki and Meelo," Korra (the girl) identified each member of the family, having learned that Meelo was wider than other Airbenders while Ikki was still the size of a girl in her teens below five feet. "But…where's Jinora?"

"Up here," everyone looked up at the visiting bison's saddle and saw a young woman still in it.

Jinora, looking like she was being careful, slowly climbed off the bison and slid down its tail. As she stood up and walked toward the family, both Yue and Katara were surprised by her reason for being so careful. She was pregnant, and not just mildly so, either, but quite large, like she could pop at any time.

"Oh!" Katara oohed. "When did this happen, Jinora?"

"Just seven months ago," she explained; she'd been married to an Air Acolyte for at least three years now, and he was tasked with representing the Air Nomads in the council, as Tenzin was now unable to continue due to his advanced age.

"Congratulations," Yue and Korra (the girl) told her.

-x-

Yue couldn't believe her ears when she discovered that there was greater unrest in Republic City, and that Rohan would be unable to teach Korra Airbending because he needed to assist in handling the unrest between the benders and non-benders. She had once heard a rumor about there being unrest within the city that could've escalated into another war, but didn't really believe it to be true, as the last time there was unrest was during the time of Yakone, and he had been defeated. How could there be greater unrest again in the city?

"But what's causing the trouble there this time?" She asked.

"A group of people calling themselves the Equalists," Jinora explained.

"Equalists? I thought they were just a charity faction," said Katara, having heard of that group name once or twice before.

"That's what we believed, too," went Meelo, placing his cup of tea down on the table. "I was walking through the city one day two months ago, and I saw a man protesting to the people about the so-called awfulness of the benders living in it. He was trying to inspire the non-bending people listening to him to join this man called Amon and tear down the bending establishment."

"Tear down the bending establishment? But that's insane." Korra (the girl) expressed her opinion on the current situation at the fifth nation. "Bending is the coolest thing in history. How could there be people that have a problem with benders?"

"It all started a few years after Grandpa Aang's passing," explained Ikki, "with some of the bending triads trying to pick up territories and enforcing their would-be superiority on the non-benders. It's mostly just three bending triads: The Triple Threat, Agni Kai and Red Monsoon triads. Each of them trying to claim the most territory in the United Republic."

"How's Toph's family dealing with the unrest?" Katara asked.

"One day at a time," Pema stated. "Lin had to step down because she wasn't as quick as she used to be, leaving her kids, Po Kong and Dai Gui to lead the Metalbending Police Force. So far, they've found nothing new on the whereabouts of the Equalists. The only people not being suspected of any crimes or foul play are the Air Nomads and Air Acolytes."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Yue told her. "They're not the type to want unrest, great wealth, mayhem or anything that would go against their peaceful ways. They wouldn't fight unless they absolutely had to, and only to defend themselves and others that don't want to get involved."

"That's right," Rohan agreed.

-x-

The next day, Tenzin and his family left back to Air Temple Island; as much as Rohan wanted to stay and train the new Avatar, he couldn't allow the unrest in Republic City to tear the place down.

"It feels so unfair," Yue heard her great-grandchild express her displeasure in being unable to learn Airbending because of the city Aang, Zuko and her great-grandparents had built in the beginning.

"It'll be okay, Korra," she told her, as they looked out at the calm waters below the cliff they were atop. "We're not limited to just our family members versed in the art of Airbending. There are masters at the other Air Temples around the world. We'll try the Southern Air Temple…"

"It's not just the delay in my Airbending teaching, it's the unrest in Republic City," she explained. "I'm supposed to be the Avatar, charged with restoring balance to the world, and I've yet to do so."

"It's not your fault, Korra. Nobody's perfect. Nobody can foretell every outcome that has transpired over the years and generations, not even the Avatar, the spirit of the very planet itself. Everything and everyone is flawed, imperfect, and for many different reasons. If we were all perfect beings, it would be a dull existence we'd be living."

"Still," Korra responded, "I should be doing something other than training to be the Avatar the people need. Even without Airbending, I should still be capable of handling whatever comes my way. I'm going to Republic City, Yue."

_Somehow, I knew she was going to say that,_ Yue thought; it was almost impossible for her great-granddaughter to surprise her with whatever choice she makes. "Now, wait a moment, Korra. Let's think about this a little longer. We only have bits of information on what's happening there, there's anti-bending unrest, three bending triads, a group of people calling themselves the Equalists, led by a guy named Amon, the council and police force are plagued with odds stacked against them, you've yet to demonstrate Airbending, even when you were little, and you haven't learned to enter and control the Avatar State that comes after mastering the elements…and you wanna go to the United Republic of Nations and face enemies you might not be able to deal with fully?"

"Yes, Yue," she answered her, and then walked away back to the compound to pack her things there; she wasn't going to let those of greater age or status change her mind about her self-made decision.

"Korra, wait!" Yue stopped her from taking another with a soft breeze and wall of snow. "You can't go to Republic City."

The young girl was about to yell at her great-grandmother until said elder raised her right hand to continue her reason for saying she couldn't go to the fifth nation.

"Not by yourself," she continued the reason. "I'll go with you. I got a lot of free time away from the Northern Water Tribe, so I'm not needed there for now."

"But you're… What happens if you get hurt there?"

"Whatever will happen will happen. Plus, I'm not overly concerned with getting harmed while there; I had received a visit from a spirit, years ago, and was informed of a detail that I live with a strong belief in, that I'll live a long life before moving on. So…are we gonna pack up or are we gonna argue?"

Korra saw no way out of this and gave in.

-x-

"You two be careful in that city," Senna told Korra and Yue as she hugged her daughter for the last time she would be seeing her until she came back from Republic City.

"We'll be alright," Yue told her, and was immediately hugged by Tonraq, respecting his elders.

The two then ran over to their bison and dog familiars and boarded them, taking one last glance at the Avatar's parents before taking off to the United Republic of Nations. The journey on a Flying Bison would take at least three days while a Polar Bear Dog could only travel so far, unable traverse large bodies of water like the ocean, so Naga would have to be transported on a ship to make the crossing between the South Pole and the United Republic of Nations, something the Avatar was adamant on because she refused to leave Naga behind. Luckily, during the restoration of the Southern Water Tribe, a docking station had been built in order to transport various resources to Republic City in order to provide authentic foods and materials from the Water Tribe, so the relocating was handled peacefully.

"Grr!" Yue had awoke to the growling of her bison as the sun shone on her.

"Hmm…what?" She groaned and yawned as she wiped the mucus from her eyes, seeing the gorgeous sight below them. "Ah!"

The United Republic of Nations, just as she'd seen it many years before her great-granddaughter was born, built on Earth Kingdom land that made the outline of a crescent bay for the water, with buildings so high that they rivaled the mountains in their beauty, streets like those of the Fire Nation towns and villages of said archipelago, and overshadowing the beautiful pair of islands that were over a mile from the city's shore. Anybody that never saw Air Temple Island or Aang Memorial Island were unlucky to know how the former island was a sanctuary while the latter was a source of history to the Avatars of the past (or, as Yue accepted, the Avatars that Aang had been able to leave historical information about).

_Sokka,_ she thought, as the memory that had left her a little devastated for years came back to her present state of mind. _I can't forget that awful day. I've returned to the very place I would see you for the last time._

Korra landed on the grounds by docking bays for ships, just as a large ship docked, and a Polar Bear Dog ran out onto the street with her rider.

"Oh, wow… Ah…ha," Korra (the girl) expressed, looking at the tall buildings and people.

"You certainly give out a great aura of impression when visiting a new place, Korra," Yue told her.

"I do? Really?"

"Yes. Well, we should head over to Tenzin's at the Air Temple…as soon as we get something to eat and after you've seen much of the city."

-x-

Republic City Park was still as beautiful as the last time Yue was there. The children running around, playing around bushes and trees, couples enjoying a hug or a kiss, and the birds and flowers adding a serene calmness. She barely saw it as a means to escape the fast-paced hours of the city.

"…Aaaahh!" She heard her granddaughter gasp, breaking her from her calm state of mind, and she saw Korra backing away on the bench from a man that looked like he'd been in the garbage for a long time.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the man apologized to them, popping up out of a bush and startling Korra.

"It's okay, sir," Yue accepted his sincere apology, but then looked harder at him and thought he was familiar. "What? Are you Gommu?"

The man looked at her and responded, in an equally shocked tone, "Lady Yue?"

The young Avatar was confused now. Did her great-grandmother know this strange man.

"It is you, Gommu," Yue cheered. "I almost didn't recognize you because of the beard. What are you doing out here?"

"I live out here," the man, Gommu, explained.

"You live out here in a bush?" Korra (the girl) questioned, confused. "Are there a lot of people in this city that…live like you do?"

"That's right."

"But…I thought nearly everyone in Republic City was…'living it up'."

"Or at least joining the Air Acolytes," Yue expressed; the last time she ever saw Gommu, he was a telegraph officer for the United Forces. "What happened to change that?"

"The invention of the radio," Gommu answered her. "When that came out, a lot of telegraphers were out of a job. I got unsatisfied with being grounded in one part of the world, so I took to being a nomad a little and wander around the city, looking for work and helping the people."

"That's almost sad, but you seem to have found an inner peace to deal with it," Yue expressed. "We better get going now, but we'll see you around."

"You take care."

-x-

"…It looks so quiet from up here," the young Avatar told her grandmother, as they were gazing out at the city from atop the Harmony Tower, just as the sky was turning a dark hue of colors to symbolize the evening that was approaching every minute as the sun went down.

"It is quiet from way up here, Korra," Yue told her, and slowly turned her head to the right of the tower, seeing a couple making out a little bit. _Young love._

"I can't believe we've seen so much of the city today," Korra sighed, feeling more like a tourist than the person meant to ensure balance and harmony in the world.

They've been to the Dragon Flats borough, City Hall, been on a train and trolly, even to the Pro-Bending Arena to show Korra how the matches were performed. Now, with night approaching quickly, they needed to crash someplace, something Yue had totally forgotten on. As it was getting late, she didn't want to impose on Tenzin on Air Temple Island at night, so an inn was the logical choice for the day until dawn.

"Come on, Korra, we gotta get up early tomorrow," she told her great-granddaughter, and they left to find an inn.

-x-

"…I'm glad they made an exception for Korra and Naga," said Korra (the girl), as she and Yue managed to find an inn that would take in animals with travelers.

Yue fell to the bed in front of her and responded, "Yeah. Goodnight, Korra."

"Goodnight."

And as they slept in the room, above the small building, the aged Flying Bison grumbled as she fell to sleep alongside the Polar Bear Dog.

-x-

"…Are you sure she can carry Naga on her back?" Korra (the girl) asked Yue, as the Flying Bison swam across the ocean from Republic City to Air Temple Island with her owner, the Water Tribe Avatar and the Polar Bear Dog. "Naga and I can get off while you two fly over there."

"No, it's alright, really," Yue assured her. "It's not much on Korra if she's swimming from place to place with people on her back. And Naga only weighs about what a bison calf would weigh, so it's not a hindrance right now. Water reduces some measure of weight for a bison, you know."

The young Avatar gave up and sat against the edge of the saddle and gazed out at the large statue of her previous incarnation on the neighboring island.

"Grr!" Korra growled as they got closer to Air Temple Island.

Yue looked toward a docking pier and saw a pair of men boarding a large ship, suspecting them of being part of the Air Acolyte group for the island. She waved at them, and they waved back once her bison was close enough.

"Welcome!" The Air Acolyte that was taller than his companion greeted them.

"Hello, Air Acolytes!" Yue greeted back, as her bison crawled out of the water and Naga and Korra (the girl) got off the saddle. "We're here to see Tenzin. Is he home?"

The Air Acolyte men led the Water Tribe women up the path toward the temple and they saw a remarkable sight to behold: Airbenders. Many of them, practicing their element, meditating, farming or playing Pai Sho with the participating Air Acolytes. It was impressive to Korra, who had never seen other people of the Air Nation aside from her relatives. And for Yue, it was great to see that such a small nation of people that almost went extinct over a century ago come back from such a devastation and reclaim their place in the world.

"Yue?" They turned toward a small building and saw Tenzin approaching them, surprised to see them. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, after you left, Korra here didn't feel like staying home when we were informed of the unrest the United Republic of Nations was going through," she explained, keeping it simple. "She wanted to come help in ending it…and I decided to come with her, as I had some free time away from the North Pole. Try a year's worth of free time."

"But…Korra has yet to learn Airbending," Tenzin responded to this revelation.

"If Airbending training couldn't come to her, she would come to Airbending training. And she's been around Republic City yesterday, taking in the sights, learning what's what and where's where. So once she's learned Airbending from Rohan…or anyone else here, for that matter, she can do what she can to help the city."

"Are you sure about this?" He tried to implore his aunt that having the Avatar here with only three of the necessary elements at her disposal might not be such a good idea, even if she's been to Republic City and knowing bits of the new environment.

"Lady Yue? Korra?" The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Rohan, who had been helping around in the garden and carrying a basket of vegetables. "This is quite a surprise. What brings you all the way here from the South Pole?"

Relaying the same information to the young Airbending Master that his father had received, Rohan, unlike Tenzin, was only worried that Korra might find difficulty in learning Airbending; for a short while, he'd been learning that this new Avatar was very different from the previous one in that she hadn't been able to perform any Airbending, unlike the other three, which had been demonstrated right from the start. But Korra (the girl) had assured him that she wouldn't give up trying to learn an element she hadn't demonstrated before until she succeeded in achieving the art.

-x-

"…It's nice to have you and Korra staying with us, Yue," went Pema, showing aunt-in-law to her room.

"Thank you," she responded in turn, setting her bag down on the bed that was part of the only furniture in every room in the temple: Bed, dresser, rug and window. "Is it alright if I ask a personal question?"

"Sure."

"Do you think that…the unrest that the city is experiencing…might have anything to do with what happened years ago beforehand?"

"You mean…before Aang's passing? When…Sokka was taken?"

"Yes."

Pema thought about it for a while, having never met the man she learned this former Tribal Princess had, somehow, bestowed the power of Waterbending onto, and couldn't be sure if his death had any impact on the city's future. She knew that Yakone was responsible for Sokka's death was defeated by Aang and was sentenced to life behind bars, so he couldn't have had anything to do with the current unrest. He'd have to be over twenty years older, and not many people in the world were capable of living up to one-hundred or more, with the major exception of the Avatar and other powerful benders and enlightened men and women. So the unrest had to be the result of something else, like the passing of the previous Avatar and the lack of balance in the world.

"No, Yue," she answered her. "It couldn't possibly be because of what happened that long ago."

"I just…needed another's opinion, that's all," Yue responded, feeling a little at ease.

Pema then left her alone after that, and Yue pondered the cause of the city's unrest…and what it would take for Korra (the girl) to end it.

-x-

"…Yue had pointed out that Airbending is the element of freedom," said Korra (the girl) to Rohan the next day, as they approached the Airbending gates that they would be using, "and how it's normal for an Avatar to have difficulty with learning a bending art that is most opposite of their personality or starting element."

"And she's right," Rohan agreed with her. "I was informed of your bending training three years ago, so I know which elements you use more than others. You're…quite the hothead, as Katara once told me."

Korra somehow knew that when he said 'hothead', he meant 'Firebender', as it was her commonly used element, both in her early childhood and when she trained to master the art, almost becoming proficient in some of the rarest forms of Firebending ever.

"I'm as opposite an Airbender than I'll ever admit," she confessed to him.

"Patience, Korra," he assured her. "Surely, by the time this is all over, you'll be able to perform feats of Airbending that will allow you more adaptability when you deal with whoever or whatever comes in the future. Are you ready to begin?"

Of course, being dressed in Air Nomad clothing, Korra nodded that she was ready to begin her training.

"We'll start with a visual demonstration of how an Airbender moves without actually bending," Rohan announced, and used his bending to make the gates spin before holding out a leaf and letting it go. "The key to Airbending is to be like the leaf, going wherever there is least resistance. See how the leaf moves through the gates? There is no force, no struggle, just going where there is least resistance."

Korra saw the leaf make its way through the gates and out onto the other side, unchanged from its journey through the Airbending tool.

"And now, I'll show you how an Airbender does it," he told her, and was assisted by three child Airbenders, all girls about the age of eight, whom used their developing bending to spin the gates once more, and then Rohan went through them.

The Avatar watched as her teacher moved and swung by the gates, as though he were dancing, each gate missing him with grace. He was soon followed by the three Airbending children, each one moving just as gracefully as he did.

"Incredible," she expressed.

"To understand Airbending, one must be like a leaf in the wind," Rohan instructed her. "Are you ready to give it a try?"

"Definitely," the Avatar responded, and her teacher bended the gates to spin again.

Korra then went into them…only to come out the way she came in, but with force.

"Ouch," she sighed, on the ground.

"Eh-heh-heh!" The children laughed at her, and Rohan helped her up.

"It's okay, Korra," he told her. "I wasn't expecting you to get it right the first time. That would've been remarkable if you did."

As they practiced for the next three hours with the gates, Tenzin, atop the tower of the temple, gazed out at the large statue of his father, a look of sadness on his face.

"You miss him a lot, don't you?" He heard Yue say behind him.

"I do," he answered her.

"You remember that year you completed your Airbending training and was about to receive your tattoos? You asked me to attend your graduation."

"I've not forgotten. You almost didn't show up because of a storm."

"But I didn't let a storm stop me from getting here. That day was one of your happiest ones ever."

They both leaned against the wooden windowsill and gazed out toward Aang's statue.

-x-

The next day, meditation was something new to Korra (the girl), as all she really did that came close to it were breathing exercises. She, Rohan and the three Airbending children from the previous day were in a pagoda as the sun shone over them, simply sitting around as the wind blew around them.

_This is hard,_ she thought, having never been able to sit still for several hours before in her childhood. _But…it's kinda nice, doing nothing for a while._

As they meditated, Yue was helping Jinora feed the Winged Lemurs and Ring-Tailed Winged Lemurs.

"Is Jin always in Republic City?" Yue asked her about her husband.

"Not always," she answered back. "Only eight hours in each day. When he learned of the history of the Council of Elders and how they operate at each of the original Air Temples, how they value equality above all else for their people, he volunteered to replace Father as the Air Nation representative, wanting equality for everyone in the United Republic, rich or poor, bender or non-bender."

Yue had also read up on the Council of Elders of each of the temples, how they stressed equality, which was why no Air Nomad (or Air Acolyte, for that matter) was considered superior or inferior to others. The Air Nomads had detached themselves from the worldly concerns of others and had achieved feats of enlightenment in the process, as well as demonstrating great humor. They were, out of all the Four Nations, the most simple of people, never wanting anything other than the basics of their lives and embracing their culture.

"Yue?" Jinora asked.

"Yes, Jinora?" She responded.

"What was it like when you had your first child?"

"When I had Sora? Well, I'll be honest when I say that the birthing wasn't like any other pain I had experienced before…but when I saw my baby for the first time, I knew she was worth the months I carried her within me."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

Jinora then patted her large belly; she took Yue's opinion to heart that her child's existence, once on the outside, was worth the months she carried it within herself…and the pain she would go through.

"Have you decided on names yet?" Yue asked her.

"Yeah," she answered. "Iio for a girl and Sogen for a boy."

"Heh-heh! Iio, Sogen. Good names."

The Winged Lemurs and Ring-Tailed Winged Lemurs then fed off the fruits and berries the two filled their meal bowls with.

"Say, is Korra like Sokka a little bit? I mean, I heard stories of him from Father, but when I see Korra, she seems a bit like him, but she's also like Grandpa Aang."

"Oh, she's a bit like Sokka…when she shows it. Other times, she can be a little like Aang, except for the lack of spirituality."

"She reminds you of him a little, doesn't she?"

"Yeah…she's a constant reminder of a person that made a great impact on my life over a century ago. But…as much as she reminds me of him, and as much as she's Aang's reincarnation, she's also her own person, as each of the other Avatars of the past were their own person."

"Oopf!" They both heard Korra (the girl) gasp as she slammed right into the side of one of the gates. "Ouch! I'm okay."

"Eh-heh-heh!" Yue giggled; again, her great-grandchild took after Sokka in ways she demonstrated whenever doing something. _If we're going to be here for at least a year, I hope Korra figures out a way to use her unpredictability against the unrest in the city._

A/N: I'll stop the first chapter of this new story here for now. I'll get the next chapter to involve Yue and her Korra's wandering around the city and the Pro-Bending matches. Don't worry about the majority of the new characters, though. While Tenzin, Pema, their kids and Lin Beifong are older and have changed from the original franchise, not everything has changed. You'll certainly meet some other friends that haven't changed much. Read and review, please! See ya!


	2. Chapter 2: Past and Present Winds

Creation began on 06-14-13

Creation ended on 06-23-13

The Legend of Korra

Past and Present Winds

A/N: Here we go with the second chapter. Hopefully, things will get greater in this sequel to the previous story. I will try to ditch the identity identification crud between Avatar Korra and the Sky Bison Korra. Let's do this!

"…Urgh!" Korra grunted, still unable to get through the Airbending gates.

It had been at least three weeks since she and Yue had arrived in Republic City and Air Nomad Island to get the young woman trained in the art of Airbending before she went to the city to aid in restoring the order and peace there. The young Avatar-in-training still had difficulty in learning the art, though Rohan continued to show patience in teaching her, which made Yue relieved to avoid her great-granddaughter yelling in fury at not yet performing Airbending yet.

Yue, in the meantime, watched her from a distance as she helped around the island's garden and fed the lemurs and bison. She didn't enjoy seeing Korra fail each attempt to pass through the gates unharmed, but practice makes perfect, and the more effort you put into what you wanted to achieve, the better you learn from your errors.

"Korra," Rohan uttered to the young Avatar-in-training, "let's call it a day and you get some rest."

With a sigh and a few bruises on her, Korra nodded in the positive and bowed her head to her teacher. In all honesty, she had found it easier to meditate than to do anything else in her Airbending training; every time she tried to pass through the gates, she got hit by them, and now she had a few bruises on her wrists, back and legs.

-x-

Knock-knock. Yue knocked on the door to Korra's room.

"Korra," she uttered, "might I come in?"

"Yes, Yue," she heard her respond, and slid the door open to enter.

"I see you've healed your bruises."

"The Waterbending healing method cures nearly everything."

"Heh-heh," Yue chuckled, sitting on the edge on her bed and seeing Naga outside her window. "You'll master Airbending in due time, Korra."

"Thanks, Yue," Korra expressed, giving Yue a weak smile.

"You know what you need?"

"Huh?"

"You need a breather. A small getaway from your training. What do you say we go around Republic City tomorrow? You and me?"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Yeah, and you look like you could use a break from running through the gates."

"Eh-heh-heh! Yeah."

-x-

"…I feel like I was cooped up on the island for a long time," Korra told Yue, as they wandered around the streets of the city. "I feel so alive out here."

They were near the park when Yue and she saw a gathering of people at a platform with a man shouting through a megaphone.

"What's going on here?" Yue wondered out loud.

"…Join the Equalists, and we'll tear down the bending establishment!" They heard the guy say to the people, which caused Yue to place a firm hand on Korra's left shoulder and take her away from the crowd to avoid unnecessary conflict.

"Well, that was certainly awful," Korra told her.

"One thing at a time, Korra," she responded, now that they were far away from the park. "One thing at a time. More training first, then dealing with the trouble here."

"Say, I can see City Hall from here," the young woman expressed, changing the subject, which then made Yue take notice of their current surroundings. "Yue?"

The world around her was still, with old memories that caused her great discomfort replaying themselves in her mind. This section of the neighborhood down the street from City Hall made her uneasy with what happened here years ago.

"_Sokka!" _She heard herself yelling to her husband.

"_Yue!" _Sokka had yelled back.

"_Sokka!"_

She covered her face with her left hand, shutting out the uneasiness she was feeling. So many times, she wished that awful had never happened, to have it all be just some crazy dream.

"…Yue?" Her great-granddaughter's voice broke her from her memories of that day, snapping her back to the present. "Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, Korra. I'm fine now." She answered her, but the truth was that she was far from fine. "Um, let's go get something to eat, okay?"

As they walked down the street, away from City Hall, toward Narook's Seaweed Noodlery, the young Avatar had noticed that her great-grandmother seemed disturbed to be in that part of the neighborhood down from City Hall, like something happened to her down there that just rose up from her past. She suspected that, due to having a minor recollection of Aang's memories of that day, it involved the death of her great-grandfather, whom she never got to meet.

"…Just hurry up and hand over the payment for this week's protection, old man," they both heard and saw a young man in a suit, accompanied by two other men in suits, ganging up on an elderly man holding up a phonograph to the trio.

"Uh-oh," Yue gasped, and the four men looked at the two women; they had, unintentionally, stepped into the territory of the Triple Threat Triads, who were harassing non-benders. "We'll just be going."

She turned Korra and herself around to walk back the other way, but then the ground in front of them rose up and formed a wall, blocking their escape.

"Say, don't we know the old lady from somewhere?" One of the suits asked, referring to Yue herself. "Yeah, she's that woman from the Northern Water Tribe. A living legend, able to bend two elements instead of one."

"Yeah, that's Lady Yue," added the suit on the middle suit's left. "I thought she died years ago. She must be over one-hundred-fifty years old."

"She's probably worth a lot to her relatives," the third suit chuckled, which made Korra disgusted at the three that blocked their escape.

"Gentlemen," Yue tried to implore the men to see reason; she was still a powerful bender, but her body wasn't in good condition for strenuous activities, excluding traveling. "We don't want any trouble."

"It looks like trouble found you," the three told them.

"Wrong," went Korra, standing in between her and the Triple Threat Triad members, "it found you!"

Assuming an Earthbending stance, Korra bended the ground beneath them and created a hole, causing them to fall into a tunnel system. The three groaned in agony as they hurt in places unprotected from their fall.

"Thanks, Korra," Yue praised, and then turned over to the old man. "Are you okay, sir?"

"Yeah," he answered, just as the police arrived.

-x-

Thankfully, due to Korra's intervention, the Metalbending Police Force had arrested three more members of the bending triads, and thanks to Yue and the phonograph store owner, Chung, explaining what had happened to drove Korra to cause minor damage to the street, the young Avatar wasn't charged with property damage or taking the law into her own hands. The three Triple Threat Triad members would be facing jail time for the next ten years. The Chiefs of Police, Po Kong and Dai Gui Beifong, thanked the girl, and that was that; there was no need to have the city know that the new Avatar was around just yet. Even Chung had no clue if Korra was just wearing Water Tribe attire to hide her Earth Kingdom heritage or whatever.

"Maybe this is something we shouldn't let Tenzin and the others know about for now," Korra suggested to Yue, as they were led out the station.

"Yeah," Yue agreed with her, feeling relieved of some weight that came with the fear of being threatened with kidnapping and held as a hostage for ransom. _This city has gotten rotten with instability in the years Aang's been gone._

They decided to finish the day out in the city by going to see a match over at the Pro-Bending Arena, and as a means to forget what had almost happened earlier in the day. They were lucky that they had gotten there on time, as the ticket vendor was about to close and had the last two tickets to see the match between the Fire Ferrets and the Golden Temple Tigerdillos. Unfortunately, they had only been to the arena just once when they arrived, and they (mainly because of Yue's faded memories of the arena) didn't remember where the stairs to the seats were.

"Oh, dear," Yue sighed, pulling her head's left front lock of hair back. "I wish we had come back here several more times when we arrived."

"Hey, you two!" They turned around and saw a large man in a suit approaching them. "What are you doing in my gym?"

"Just…looking for our seats, sir," Yue explained. "We have our tickets."

They showed their tickets and he directed them to where they needed to go to catch what was left of the match going on before leaving them alone. When they arrived at a door, Korra thought they had found the stairs to the rows of seats and opened the door, despite Yue suggesting they knock first. They walked in…and found three young men, around Korra's age, all dressed in red and bone-white uniforms with protective padding.

"Why don't you ever think before doing?" Yue groaned.

"Oops," Korra chuckled.

"Hello, ladies," the boy that seemed to be a little younger than the other two, greeted the pair. "Are you lost here?"

"Um, yes, sir," Yue answered him, explaining that they were looking for their seats to watch the match.

"Oh, well, um…if you like, you can watch the match from up here," the boy expressed, pointing to a viewing balcony, where they could see the Pro-Bending match ring, which was without a single competitor in sight.

"Um, okay," Korra accepted their offer, "but where are the players?"

"You're looking at them," the boy that seemed about Korra's age, responded with a tone of seriousness, pointing his right thumb to himself.

"You three are the Fire Ferrets?" Yue questioned, viewing this as unbelievable; she hadn't expected to meet Pro-Benders in person today.

-x-

The match was in its final round, with the Fire Ferrets taking a major beating, but something Yue was able to deduce as the Waterbending member of the group not working well with the Firebender or Earthbender, whom were working well against the Tigerdillos that were pushed back to the edge of their side of the stadium. The Fire Ferret leader, revealed by an announcer to be called Mako, used his Firebending to force the three Tigerdillos off and into the pool below the stadium, effectively winning the third and final half of the match.

"Whoo-hoo!" Korra and Yue cheered.

_I guess it wasn't a bad thing that we got lost,_ Yue thought, enjoying a drink of water in the Fire Ferrets' prep room until they returned.

"Their Waterbending member, Hasook, doesn't seem to work well with Mako and Bolin," Korra expressed, wondering how the group ever made it this far in the tournament with him.

"Probably frustration," her great-grandmother suggested; she knew that wanting to win matches in the Pro-Bending tournaments put great measures of expectations on each member of the participating teams. "These matches get intensive."

When the Fire Ferrets returned, Yue was about to thank the Earthbending member, Bolin, for his hospitality, but then Hasook and Mako were conversing mildly about how the match could've gone the other way and that Hasook had done more harm than good. But Hasook told Mako to get off his case and he left the room once he grabbed his bag.

"Sorry about that," Bolin apologized to the ladies.

"It's okay," Yue responded. "That was a great match you won. The way the bending is performed in these challenges has progressed remarkably."

"Yeah. When you live in a city like this, the way bending is performed has be careful, precise and such," Bolin explained.

"Yeah. Waterbending has to be aggressive, precise and fast-paced, due to the limited availability of water," Yue revealed, which made her displeased with the way Waterbending was demonstrated in the United Republic, as it was mostly fueled by negative emotions (and she wasn't much of an anger-expressing person on any level, whatsoever). "Earthbending has been reduced greatly to just using projectiles to limit potential damage to the grounds and buildings, focusing on speed and evasion, and its sub-skill, Metalbending, is the primary method in use, since it causes little to no collateral damage. But Firebending, like Airbending, hasn't changed much over the years."

"Except that the United Republic Firebenders mostly employ the sub-skill of lightning generation, with the exclusion of those affiliated with the bending triads," Korra cut in, something that seemed to make Mako cough with discomfort.

"But they can choose whether or not to employ the use of such a sub-skill, Korra," Yue expressed, enforcing that every bender with a sub-skill in their bending arsenal could choose whether or not to use such abilities. "Goodness, where are our manners. We haven't been properly introduced. My name is Yue and this is my great-granddaughter, Korra."

"I'm Bolin," Bolin introduced himself, "and the guy with the temper tone is my big brother, Mako."

"Hello," Mako greeted them.

Although the rest of the audience had left the arena, Yue and Korra stayed a bit longer, mostly because Korra wanted to know how the Pro-Benders bended during the matches, something Bolin was willing to show her.

"It's so simple, even seven-year-old Earthbenders could try this maneuver," Bolin had explained to Korra, before showing her how he Earthbended with stone discs being targeted at nets when he practiced in the gym.

"Incredible," she expressed.

"Though, I'm not sure how my Earthbending will translate into your Waterbending, but I'm sure we'll figure it all out."

"Oh, that's okay," Korra told him, being smug. "I'm actually an Earthbender."

Cough! Yue gasped! She was hoping that Korra could keep quiet about her status as the Avatar until after she had achieved her Airbending training.

"Something wrong, Ms. Yue?" Mako asked her, as he brought her another cup of water.

"My Korra can tend to get carried away sometimes," she expressed, hoping that the girl wouldn't go on about her bending abilities.

"You might as well just say who you two truly are," Mako told her. "You're well known in Republic City's history books. You're Lady Yue of the Northern Water Tribe."

"…That you were a Water Tribe…gal," they heard Bolin say to Korra.

"Nope, you're right," Korra assured him. "I'm a Waterbender…and a Firebender."

"Okay, now I'm confused," Bolin expressed, not understanding her.

"Oh, Moon and Ocean Spirits," Yue sighed in defeat, and Mako and she approached the two. "To clarify what Korra is explaining to you, Bolin…"

"She's the Avatar, her great-grandmother's the sister-in-law of the previous Avatar, a Waterbender and an Airbender, and you and I are a pair of idiots," Mako finished.

"Both are true," Korra mockingly added in.

"No…no…no way," Bolin expressed, awed at who he was standing in front of. "You're the Avatar."

-x-

After swearing the brothers to secrecy about Korra being the Avatar, Yue and she were on the way back to Air Temple Island. It was surprising to both ladies when they found out that the brothers actually lived in the Pro-Bending building.

"Sorry about that, Yue," Korra apologized to her great-grandmother, as they walked on the calm water back to the island.

"It's okay, Korra," she told her. "Just…try to refrain from revealing your Avatar status until after you've performed some Airbending. If the city knew you were here before you've mastered all the elements, you'd be at a disadvantage. Just because you master three of them doesn't mean you're untouchable."

Korra sighed in agreement and they continued to Waterbend their way home by freezing their steps toward the island.

"Korra?" Yue went. "Shall we go back to further your bending skills another time?"

"Huh?"

"You've mastered traditional bending. As long as we're gonna be here in the United Republic, you should get lessons from Mako and Bolin on how to bend like the Pro-Benders. There's only so much you can do with the traditional style of bending."

"But, Yue, you don't like the way Waterbending has changed around here."

"But…it's better than that other sub-skill of Waterbending that you've learned only to resist if necessary…should you ever deal with it in the future."

"Yue? Earlier today…when we were out in the city…you recalled something that happened to you a long time ago, didn't you? You seemed upset about it."

When they reached the base of the island, Yue sighed and explained that she had a hard time putting behind her the awful memories of the last time she was in the city. This made Korra worry about her; there was always the subtle fear in her family that what had befell Sokka could happen to any one of them in the future. And there was her predecessor Avatar's memories of what happened, but there were gaps in the memories, like bits of history in the Four Nations that weren't well documented in the past.

-x-

GASP! Korra awoke in the late hours of the night, before the rising of the sun, from an awful nightmare that didn't make any sense to her because it happened so fast that she forgot most of it.

"Grr?" Naga whimpered, getting her attention.

"It's okay, Naga," she assured her Polar Bear Dog companion. "It was only a bad dream."

The two remained awake for the last half-hour of the night, watching the sunrise and the new day begin for Air Temple Island's inhabitants.

"Oh!" Korra gasped, bumping into a male member of the Air Acolytes. "I'm sorry, sir! I didn't mean to bump into you…"

"Accidents happen, Ms. Korra," he cut her off kindly, offering a hand to help her off the ground.

She accepted, and then realized that she had bumped into Jinora's husband, Jin. Appearance-wise, the Air Acolyte was quite handsome, with brownish-red hair, gray eyes, well into his early-thirties, but probably around the same age as his wife and probably well-muscled underneath his Air Acolyte robes.

"Are you alright? You look like you didn't get much sleep last night." Jin spoke, a bit worried.

"Oh, just a little bad dream, nothing serious," Korra told him, and then went to the Airbending training grounds to meet with Rohan and the three Airbending girls under his tutelage.

"Are you ready to begin again, Korra?" Rohan asked her, but then noticed she had slight circles of darkness under her eyes. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she assured him.

In the garden, Yue was picking ripe peaches with Pema, Ikki and several Air Nomads and Air Acolytes. Yue herself hadn't slept well last night, either. Her past caught up with her in her dreams, fabricating cold events in the form of an awful nightmare. In the end, everything within the dream came to a head with just one major climax: She lost the only man she ever loved, and it tore her up inside.

"Yue?" Ikki called out to her. "Maybe you should go get some more rest."

"Oh, no, I couldn't," Yue expressed. "I'm fine, really."

"Really, Yue, I must insist that you go rest some more."

Yue sighed in defeat and bowed her head before setting down the basket of peaches collected so far and walked away. She didn't want to feel like she wasn't contributing her share of help just because she had one bad dream…or bad memories that were starting to come to her in her dreams.

"Urgh!" Yue heard Korra grunt, having gotten hit by the spinning gates again. "Oh…"

For a few hours, the two were resting in their rooms, feeling revitalized and full of new energy when they awoke. And Yue calm, free of the emotional weight from earlier, while Korra simply felt like she could take on an army.

"…How do you two feel?" Tenzin asked them, seeing leave the women's dormitory of the temple.

"Better," they answered him.

However, even with the good rest, Korra was still unable to pass through the spinning gates; she was still trying to force her way through the gates, something that wouldn't benefit her in her training. Yue could've told her many times that there was hardly any force in Airbending; the element of freedom was all about evasion, the path of least resistance. And now that she thought about it, the sight of the gates became tempting to her, and she was still flexible in the art.

"Excuse me, Rohan?" She asked, seeing Korra get back up. "Is it possible for me to try to get through the gates?"

"Uh, sure," he answered her. "If you're well enough, that is."

"I'm well. Plus, I haven't gone through the gates in a long time."

Korra became curious as to why Yue was interested in going through the gates, though it might've had something to do with Rohan's teaching her of the movements required of Airbending.

"_In Airbending, you always have to be able to be seek alternative paths to take, whether you're in a battle or other situation where resistance is met. And in a moment's notice, you have to be able to shift into the path where there is less resistance than what's in front of you. Since you're just starting, it's okay if you don't understand any of this right now. In time, you'll be able to perform the movements, even if you don't fully understand them." _She remembered him telling her.

The three Airbending girls used their bending to spin the gates again, and Korra watched her grandmother go through them. But unlike herself, Yue was doing better! She watched her in awe and envy as Yue looked like she was dancing, and dancing well for a woman pushing over a century and a half. With every step she took, every turn she made the moment she felt wind in her face, and she wasn't even looking where she was going, Yue avoided the gates with such grace, such elegance that she could've been a bending instructor as well as a dance instructor. When she came out of the other side of the gates, unharmed and all, Yue took a moment to catch her breath, feeling exhilarated.

"That was great," she expressed.

"I see you still got it, Lady Yue," they all heard Tenzin, who saw his aunt go through gates. "Not bad."

"Why, thank you," she responded to him.

Korra wanted so badly to do what she did and pass through the gates without hitting them, and it took all of her effort just to keep from trashing them. She knew she was trying to force her way through, but it was hard to let go of force and focus on subtlety. She thanked the spirits that Rohan has shown great patience with her efforts, but she was considering giving up.

-x-

It was about a week since the day Yue and Korra went on their day off to hang around Republic City, and as the sun went down, Meelo had looked around the island…and found no trace of who he was looking for.

"Yue, have you see Korra?" He asked Yue, who was feeding her bison.

"Grrr?" Korra growled in confusion.

"He didn't mean you, Korra," Yue told her. "No, I haven't seen her since this afternoon. Why?"

"I've looked everywhere on the island, and I can't find her. Rohan's worried that she might've run off because she hasn't made much progress with her training." He explained.

Yue wondered for a moment and thought of places where Korra might've run off to, but had to find out if it was only her that ran off.

"Did she take Naga with her?" She asked him.

"No, Naga's still in her room," he answered her.

"I'll get Rohan, and we'll go look for her."

"Do you know where she might've gone?"

"Just one place. I just hope I'm right."

-x-

If she had to give up on Airbending, there was better substitute than Pro-Bending in her mind. She had already gone to the arena two nights after the night she and Yue met Mako and Bolin, learning of the ways bending is performed in the city, and had progressed a bit in the arts. So, before she could break the ice to Rohan that she was going to give up, she had to see another Pro-Bending match and just let go of training.

_Even Yue could get past the gates without any effort,_ she thought, now heading toward the prep room reserved for the Fire Ferrets. _Of course, it was easy for her. She's had years to achieve mastery of the disciplines required for Airbending. She even had the years needed to master Waterbending, and, honestly, she and Katara are better than me at Waterbending. I still waste my sources and neglect to carry a Water Skin._

When she entered the Fire Ferrets' prep room to wish them luck on their upcoming match to get into the tournament, she found only Mako and Bolin, with Hasook nowhere in sight.

"Did I miss your match?" She asked them, confused. "It looks like you guys just lost, big time."

"No, we haven't lost the match tonight," Mako answered her, "though we might as well have lost it. Hasook is a no-good no-show!"

A second after being informed, a man, one of the bending referees, showed up behind Korra and informed the Fire Ferrets that they had five minutes left to come out and play or face getting disqualified and losing their chance to participate in the championship, and then left them alone again.

"Uh, couldn't you get one of them to participate in your team?" Korra suggested, looking over on the other side of the arena at the opposing team's prep room.

"No," went Bolin. "The rules state you can only work with one team."

Then Korra got another idea!

-x-

"…What makes you think Korra would come here?" Rohan asked Yue, as they reached the front doors of the Pro-Bending building.

"Korra idolizes Pro-Bending," Yue explained, "and we were here a few times. It's…her passion."

"Oh. Tonight's match-up is the underdog team, the Fire Ferrets, against the competing team, the Pinnacle Palace Platypus Bears."

"Huh?!"

"I was studying up on Pro-Bending after I had earned my Airbending tattoos. I know the names of the teams currently existing."

"That explains it all."

They ran through the halls, and Rohan, who had looked at maps and blueprints of the building in his studies of Pro-Bending, knew where to go better than Yue had a hard time remembering where to go. When they reached the audience, the crowds were going wild with either excitement or disgust. There were even some that were struck with awe at what was happening.

"Hold on a minute!" A man's voice over the loudspeakers around the whole stadium came about. "Did that Waterbender just Earthbend?!"

_A Waterbender Earthbending?_ Rohan thought, realizing that Yue was right that Korra would be here.

"You have got to be kidding me! She's the Avatar, people, playing in a Pro-Bending match!" The voice bellowed again, and Yue and Rohan were left half shocked that everybody there had found out about their world's harbinger of order and peace…and half angry that the guy announcing this revelation had said it so loud that their ears hurt; however they felt about Korra being revealed would have to wait until another time.

"Rohan?" Yue asked her great-nephew.

"Yes, Yue?" He responded.

"Maybe we should just sit down and see how Korra fares against the Platypus Bears," she suggested to him, deciding that she could reprimand her great-grandchild another time when the match was over.

He agreed with her and followed her down the steps to where she felt the announcing voice couldn't hurt their ears. They then heard a referee's voice announcing that the Fire Ferret's Waterbender, the Avatar, would be allowed to continue so long as she only used Waterbending; this showed Yue and Rohan that even in this day and age, the Avatar was an exception to many things.

"Yue, it's only a possibility, but maybe this could help Korra with her Airbending teachings," Rohan then suggested to his great-aunt.

"Are you sure?" She questioned, not wanting to be judgmental about his assumption that Pro-Bending could help aid Korra in becoming an Airbender.

"During our practice sessions with Ibuki, Yuki and Kyoko, I've tried to install within Korra that Airbending is all about taking the path of least resistance, to seek an alternative route in whatever situation you find yourself in. Since she was only starting out, it was okay if she didn't fully understand the meaning behind so."

"And you believe that this will demonstrate to her the path of least resistance? That she will use her Airbending teachings against the opposing team?"

"It's a possibility, Yue."

Yue turned away from him and back to the ring where the Pro-Benders were fighting.

"For Korra's sake, I hope you're right about this," she told him; as much as Korra needed to show that some of the Airbending lessons had managed to sink into her consciousness, she also wanted the brothers she and Korra met to participate in the championship happening this year, and if aiding them for some reason would also help, then she could live with the people knowing that their new Avatar was in the city.

-x-

Korra was in big trouble! Mako and Bolin were boxed in on the first zone of the ring by the Platypus Bears' Waterbending member while the Earth and Firebending members were trying to hit her to win the match once she was at the third zone. She hated that the lessons she had picked up from the brothers wasn't helping her at all in this predicament. As much as bending had progressed and evolved in the United Republic, she could use some of that ancient, traditional style of bending.

As an Earthbending disc came her way, seconds away from making contact, the Avatar suddenly shifted her body to the left, just like an…

"Huh?!" Yue gasped, seeing that stance from long ago. "Rohan, was that what I think it was?"

"She did it, Yue," he expressed, chuckling.

The two Platypus Bears continued to hurl fireballs and stone discs at Korra, but all she did was shift and turn, dodging each attempt. She couldn't believe it, but all the sudden…everything Rohan had been teaching her seemed to be put into motion with her movements. She felt like she was dancing, like how they often did in the ballrooms of Ba Sing Se, and she'd never been to Ba Sing Se in her life! There was no force, no trying real hard involved, just moving with the calm breeze, like a leaf in the wind.

As the announcer went on about how she was moving with a different style of fighting, the Platypus Bears were becoming exhausted that their Waterbending member had to assist in dealing with Korra, but even he was no match for the Avatar's evasion. And when all three were left worn out, they all received a grand defeat from the Fire Ferret brothers, who had plenty of strength to win the match!

"And the Fire Ferrets have won their spot in the Pro-Bending Championship Tournament!" The announcer proclaimed, and the audience went wild with excitement.

Yue cheered like a mad woman, with Rohan remaining calm, though he couldn't help but feel proud of Korra being able to put the lessons learned to good use.

-x-

"…You were awesome, Korra," said Bolin to the Avatar, as the brothers were packing up for the night. "Where did you learn to move like that?"

"Oh… I have two teachers that are currently teaching me the art of traditional bending," she explained, which was a half-truth; while Yue wasn't really her teacher in the art of Airbending, she couldn't let go of her passing through the spinning gates so gracefully. "So, uh… I guess I'll see you around."

But before she left, Mako reached out to stop her and had his left hand on her left shoulder.

"Korra," he started. "I, uh… Well, since Hasook isn't likely to return…would you be considering becoming the Fire Ferrets' new Waterbending member?"

"Really?"

"Yes."

"I, uh…"

"You should go for it, Korra," the three turned to the door and saw Yue standing there with a smile on her face. "You always said you wanted to Pro-Bend and everything when you're not training to be the Avatar. And you did good out there for your debut match."

"Hold on a minute. You were out there watching me?" Korra asked her.

"Yeah. You were starting to move like an Airbender in the final round. You keep facing your opponents like that…and you'll be nearly untouchable."

Korra smiled and told Mako that she was in with the Fire Ferrets.

On the way back of Yue's bison, the young Avatar wanted to know what made her think to look for her at the arena.

"When Meelo came to me asking if I've seen you, and that Rohan was worried, well, I figured you would go to see a Pro-Bending match," Yue explained her deduction to her. "Korra? If I made you feel less than a bender when I wanted to go through the spinning gates myself, I apologize."

"No, it wasn't anything like that," Korra responded. "I've never seen you as proficient in Airbending as I've seen you in Waterbending back when I was little. It was like you were dancing past the gates."

"You'll get through those gates, Korra, even if it means I have to go through them with you."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, really."

"Grrr," growled the bison Korra, as she flew toward Air Temple Island in the light of the moon.

A/N: Well, I'll stop this chapter right here. The next chapter will be a shorty/quickie and then the next one will be enriching a little bit. Read and review.


	3. Chapter 3: What's to come

Creation began on 06-23-13

Creation ended on 06-23-13

The Legend of Korra

What's to come

"…An announcement from a Pro-Bending match two days ago indicates that the Avatar is in Republic City," a masked man told another man, who was looking at various maps and notes on a table and on a wall in front of him.

"This is quite unexpected," the second man responded, turning around and revealing that he himself was also wearing a mask. "The Avatar has shown up in the city much too early for our plans to take affect on anything. If it had been another two years, then things would be different."

"Shall we deal with her personally, sir?" The first masked man, now wielding two baton-like weapons in his hands, asked the second one, who appeared to be the one in charge of everything.

"No," he answered him. "It's much too dangerous to face the Avatar right now. We'll have to…accelerate our plans before we deal with her. Spread the word, Lieutenant: The time for the Revelation is upon the city. The time for equality is at hand."

"Yes, sir," the first masked man, the Lieutenant, responded, and ran out the room to inform the others, leaving the leader alone.

"The Avatar," the leader expressed, looking at a photograph taken during the Pro-Bending match that revealed the girl's existence to the city. "You will be an interesting opponent…when the day comes that I put an end to you. And you will rue the day you met me, Amon, leader of the Equalists."

A/N: And there you have it. I told you it was a shorty/quickie. Onto the next chapter now.


	4. Chapter 4: Fear Strikes in the Night

Creation began on 06-23-13

Creation ended on 07-12-13

The Legend of Korra

Fear Strikes in the Silence of the Night

A small ball flew in the air and was caught by a pair of slender hands, belonging to a young girl dressed in dark, training clothes in a large gymnasium with two boys, dressed in similar dark clothes, except the elder boy had red markings on his while the younger boy's had green markings, leaving the girl with blue markings. It had only been three weeks since she joined the team as their replacement Waterbender, but Korra was edging to question why they had to train so early in the morning since she joined the Fire Ferrets.

"What's the big idea with making me train so early in the morning before the sun comes up?" She asked Mako. "You're starting to make me consider the morning to be very evil."

"Early bird catches the worm, Korra," went Bolin, who received the ball from her and threw it to Mako. "We just got unlucky, being the rookies."

"And you're the rookiest of us all," Mako added, informing her that she needed to be up to speed if they were to survive in the tournament as he threw the ball to her. "So deal with it."

"You deal with it!" She countered, and threw the ball back at him.

"Hello, Fire Ferrets!" A bald man in a suit called out, walking into the gym and toward them. "For a trio of two former street urchins and the new Avatar, you three did well in your last match to get into the championship tournament."

"I'm sorry," went Korra, having never seen this guy before, "and you would be who, exactly?"

"Butakha," the man responded, explaining that he was the Pro-Bending Administrator, the one in charge of overseeing everything revolving around the Pro-Bending Arena. "You were quite remarkable in the final round of the last match, Avatar Korra."

"Why, thank you," she praised him, and then he went over to Mako and gave him the winnings from the last match, though Korra was surprised when all Mako had left in his right hand, after Butakha subtracted the costs of renting the gym and equipment and other such expenses from the winnings, was just a few bills.

Mako, pleased to have something leftover from the yuans earned from the last match, put the remaining money in his pocket for emergencies. But he was shocked to learn that before the Fire Ferrets could compete in the championship like the other teams, every Pro-Bending team would have to ante up at least five-thousand yuans for the championship pot or face being disqualified. And as soon as Butakha left the three alone, they were pondering how to deal with their new, financial situation.

"Say, Korra," went Bolin, "you wouldn't happen to have a super-secret Avatar bank account overflowing with gold somewhere, do you?"

Korra responded, "All I have on me is just pocket change. I've never really needed a lotta money for the majority of my needs. I've always had people, like my family, taking care of me."

"Then I wouldn't say you have nothing but pocket change," she heard Mako say to her as he left the gym, though it sounded almost like an accusation brought on by negativity rather than being some positive type of compliment.

"I…I didn't mean it like that," she uttered toward Bolin, who seemed to be more reasonable than his elder brother.

"No, it's okay," he expressed kindly. "He's been like this since we were little. When we lost our parents…we were left on our own…and it's still a bit personal for him because he remembers what happened to them. I was still too young to recall past events."

"I'm so sorry," Korra gave her sympathy. "I didn't know."

-x-

"…Now, be careful, Tenzin, dearest!" Pema told her husband, as he took his glider and flew toward Republic City.

"Hey, Pema," went Yue, arriving at the docks of the island, just in time to see Tenzin flying off. "Where's he off to?"

"He had received a call from Jin that the United Council wanted to see him again," she explained; with the majority of the council's representatives being older than Jin, he was the second youngest member after the Northern Water Tribe representative, and the council liked to keep in touch with Tenzin every now and then.

"And I thought Tenzin would be taking it easy after he stood down," Yue expressed, concerned because of Tenzin's age; while he might've been a capable Airbender still, he wasn't like his father, who had also lost much of his endurance and vitality as he got older.

"Sometimes, the fact that he uses a cane distracts people from the fact that he's not as slow as they might think he's become," Pema told her.

"He's still that good?"

"Mm-hmm."

As the sun began its descent over the mountains beyond the city, elsewhere in Republic City, Mako had managed to find part-time employment at a power plant that needed extra Firebenders that could generate lightning to fuel the city's electrical energy requirements; when he heard that the pay was pretty decent, he figured it could help in getting the five-thousand yuans to stay in the tournament. And elsewhere in that same city, Bolin had just accepted an offer from some people he was told by his brother to never get involved with, but the price seemed too good to pass by.

-x-

"…I'm gonna get past them this time," said Korra to Yue, as the gates started spinning again.

"Whenever you're ready," Yue responded, and then the young Avatar went into the gates, finally succeeding in avoiding them as she evaded each panel, moving like an Airbender would.

"Bravo, Korra!" Rohan praised her, clapping his hands. "Bravo!"

Korra leapt out of the gates and onto the ground in front of the young, Airbending girls, Ibuki, Yuki and Kyoko, panting heavily as she caught her breath.

"You finally did it, Korra," the girl in the middle of the other two, Yuki, expressed, and then noticed something in the far back behind Korra's great-grandmother. "Say, Korra, isn't that the boy you met in Republic City that you say drives you crazy?"

Korra turned around and saw none other than Mako himself, standing before Yue and Rohan, who seemed upset about something.

"Oh!" The Airbending girl on Yuki's left side, Kyoko, gasped, sounding like a silly girl. "Does he drive you crazy in a bad way? Or does he drive you crazy like you like him?"

Korra became flustered, and slammed her right foot into the ground, Earthbending a slab underneath the girls and sending them up into the air. Unfortunately, although she never intended to harm them, they slowly floated back down with their bending; Korra just wanted them to back off about anything she might've said, once or twice, about Mako. She didn't even want her great-grandmother knowing about any of it.

Mako was asking the two bending masters if they had seen his brother, but they hadn't had any visitors to the island since the day Yue and Korra had arrived. When Korra approached the three, Yue asked if she had seen Bolin, but she answered her grandmother that she hadn't seen him since practice at the arena this morning.

"Is something wrong?" Korra asked Mako.

"Don't know yet," he responded, "but Bolin has a knack for getting into situations. I'll see you later."

As he turned to leave, Yue expressed, "Korra, why don't you go with him? He seems like he could use all the help available to him."

"But…I have to continue practicing my Airbending," Korra countered, not wanting to get in Mako's way of looking for Bolin, and she still needed to try and Airbend, making less and less progress.

"It can wait," Rohan expressed; he was willing to reduce Korra's training schedule for as long as necessary for her to handle her other priorities, even priorities that were yet to come for the Avatar. "Go help your friend find his brother."

Korra nodded and left to catch up with Mako.

"You're the most patient Airbender I have ever met since I arrived here, Rohan," Yue informed her great-nephew, having never seen any other bending instructors demonstrate as much patience as he has.

"Airbending requires patience, Yue," he expressed. "When I got my tattoos once I achieved mastery, I knew there was no rushing any degree of greatness. Greatness, not perfection. I almost lost my patience at one point…and with that near-loss of patience came the consuming rage. I'll tell you, it didn't feel good, whatsoever, to be angry over not being patient. Then…I received a visit from someone in a dream that quelled me."

"Let me take a guess at who it was," she stopped him for a moment. "Was it…your grandfather?"

Rohan gave a small chuckle and nodded that it was Aang who visited him in his dream.

"Rohan? How old were you when you received your tattoos?"

"I was…twelve. The same age as Grandpa Aang."

"Then you must be in Air Nomad history as the second youngest Airbender to achieve mastery of the art," Yue praised him. "You…are in the history books for the Air Nomads, right?"

"Yes. Current history, which is recent history. I once heard that you had mastered Airbending, but didn't receive the tattoos. Why is that?"

"Oh, Aang had offered to give me Airbending tattoos…but I kindly turned him down. I may have had ancestors that were descended from Avatar Yangchen's twin, Sister Eli, but I've lived in the Northern Water Tribe ever since I was born. I didn't know about my dual heritage until I was traveling around the Fire Nation and visited the Western Air Temple, where we, that is, Aang, Sokka, Katara, Toph, Zuko and the others, discovered that the Air Nomads weren't extinct. Even after he gave me and many of the Airbenders that needed a teacher proper Airbending lessons, I knew there was no way I could possess the tattoos. Airbending tattoos belong to Air Nomad culture only. The idea of me having the marks… I never wanted to make anybody assume that I was disgracing one of the two different cultures. I'm an Airbending Master, hands down, but I'm also a Waterbending Master, and I can't be one over the other."

"That's understandable. It'd be wrong and cruel to make anyone choose between being who they are…and who others want them to be."

Then Yue said she was going to get her bison and just keep an eye on Korra from a distance. But Rohan wouldn't allow her to go anywhere by herself, even if it was just to observe the Avatar and not to intervene in her affairs. He went to get his bison and told her that they would both go to the city and keep a distant eye upon Korra.

-x-

"…Well, this is his usual hangout," went Mako to Korra, as he showed her and Naga around Central City Station, distinguished by the statue of an older Fire Lord Zuko.

"It seems he was here," said Korra, pointing over toward something. "Isn't that Pabu?"

Mako looked over to where she was pointing, over at the northern side of the statue's base, and straight at a Fire Ferret dressed like it was intended to perform.

"Yeah, it is," he answered her.

"Yo, Mako!" They stopped walking toward the statue and looked at a little boy dressed in a combination of United Republic and Earth Kingdom-styled clothing.

"Skoochy," Mako expressed, seeming annoyed to see the boy. "Have you seen my brother here earlier in the day?"

"Yeah, I've seen him here earlier," he answered, though it sounded like he had more to tell, but was keeping it to himself.

"And?" Mako asked, taking a few yuans out of his pocket and handing him a bill.

"I saw him with his pet Fire Ferret…and then Shady Shin approached him and asked him to provide extra security for the Triple Threats."

Mako then gave him another bill before asking why his brother would do such a thing.

"Shady Shin offered him a large sum of cash in exchange for his help," Skoocky explained further. "I guess you two needed the money for something big or something. I don't know."

The Firebender then gave him another yuan and asked him where they went.

"They headed back to their domain to get set for something big going on tonight. It must be big for the Triple Threats to recruit even Earthbenders that try to make their living through Pro-Bending. In fact, the Red Monsoon and Agni Kai Triads have been recruiting extra muscle, as well. So something really big must be going down."

"Thanks," Mako praised him, and then he, Korra, Naga and Pabu left.

"Something about the Triple Threats you want to tell me about?" Korra asked; there was something about the way he looked after finding out about his brother's whereabouts had made her suspect something was amiss.

"What do you mean?" He countered.

"Yue and I were hassled by three members of the Triple Threats the day we met you and Bolin," she explained to him. "They tried to take Yue, thinking she'd be worth a lot to our families in the Northern and Southern Water Tribes. What would make Bolin help them, beyond the need for money?"

"It's complicated," he told her; he really didn't want to divulge his past to somebody he had only met recently. "Let's just focus on getting to their headquarters."

Unbeknownst to them, up high in the air, hidden by the presence of several airships belonging to the Metalbending Police Force, Yue and her bison, Korra, were engaging in a conversation with one the men in charge of the airship they were closest to.

"…What makes you think that the disappearance of this boy is associated to the Triple Threat Triads?" The captain of the ship asked her.

"I don't have anything concrete to prove anything about his disappearance," she confessed, "but his brother was very concerned when he didn't find him at home and checked all his usual places. My great-granddaughter went with him to help look for his brother, and I'm just trying to keep a close watch on them…from a distance."

"Your great-granddaughter? Isn't she the Avatar succeeding the Airbending one they called Aang? Your great-granddaughter is the Avatar?"

Yue nodded to confirm his question; she could only assume that he, like many others, had discovered that the Avatar was in Republic City due to listening to gossip or was present at the Pro-Bending match.

"I know I'm asking of much, but could you just help me in helping them find the boy before he gets into some kind of trouble, please?"

"Sure," the captain obliged. "I got three kids your granddaughter got interested in the Fire Ferrets."

-x-

The Triple Threats' headquarters, in Korra's eyes, looked no different from the neighboring buildings around it. Though Mako insisted that guards are often always out front keeping watch; if there weren't guards, even if they were non-benders employed by the Triple Threats in exchange for protection, that meant that something was seriously wrong. So Korra, ignoring discretion, knocked the front door down and entered the building, ready to face the Triple Threats and take names. But the entire first floor of the building was desolate, with much of the furniture knocked over.

"It looks like a small war hit this place," she told Mako.

"Bolin! You here? Bo?" He called out, but no response came back.

Vroom! They heard something out back, like an engine of some sort.

"Oh, no!" Mako groaned, running to the back of the building, followed by Korra.

Busting the door opened, the pair saw a truck with some people dressed in dark green, red and gray suits throwing a person into the back. They turned and saw the pair, and one threw a smoke bomb at the ground, casting a smokescreen around them.

_It's gonna be a long while until I've mastered enough of Airbending to deal with smokescreens,_ thought Korra, as the smoke cleared away, revealing that the truck was now fleeing away, and two the people dressed in the suits were riding away on motorcycles, a type of transportation she rarely saw around the city while out relaxing.

"Naga!" She called for her companion, and the Polar Bear Dog ran to her aid. "Get on, Mako!"

Mako obliged and they chased after the truck and motorcyclists.

Up in the foggy night sky, a police airship took notice of a truck and at least four motorcyclists riding over the required speed limit down the street, being chased by a Polar Bear Dog.

"Looks like you were right to trust your instincts," a Metalbender expressed. "Something's going on down there."

Yue, looking down through a telescope at the chase, uttered that she picked up the instincts-following trait from her husband in the years they were married.

-x-

Naga chased the fleeing truck and motorcyclists straight to an open square alley where at least three of the motorcyclists, due to Korra's persistent Earthbending, improved by studying the Pro-Bending style, stopped to deal with the Avatar and the Firebending Pro-Bender. The mysterious motorcyclists ran up to Korra and Mako and began throwing bolas at them to halt them, but Korra deflected the bolas with her Earthbending, creating momentary walls and counterattacking with her Firebending. They made a few assaults on Mako, but his endurance was made known, as one the motorcyclists was knocked back by him by means of a headbutt before he engaged his Firebending.

"Urgh!" Korra grunted, making leg contact with her opponent, who somehow made her left arm limp when she attempted to Firebend with it once more. "Urgh!"

The opponent was clearly a woman (once Korra was close enough to get a good inspection of her build), and well versed in combat, hitting Korra with a series of quick jabs, making the Avatar feel like her limbs were lighter than usual. Along with her, her comrades had managed to disable Mako's bending and knock him to the ground before they threw more bolas at Naga, who tried to intervene on the Avatar's behalf.

FLASH! A large light suddenly shined upon them all. It was a police airship.

"This is the police!" A male voice over a megaphone called out. "Cease and desist immediately!"

The motorcyclists regrouped and got on their bikes and made a retreat, followed by at least ten Metalbenders that swooped from the airship to pursue them. Two additional Metalbenders came to assist Korra and Mako, even helping up Naga.

"Thank you," Korra praised them, and then tried to Firebend, but found herself unable to. "Hey! Urgh! I can't bend! Urgh! I can't bend!"

"Calm down," went Mako to her. "It'll wear off after a while. Those guys were chi blockers, people that work for Amon."

"Amon? You mean that anti-bending, mask-wearing guy the people are talking about?" Korra questioned; on both the day they had arrived to the city and their little break wandering the city, they had seen some posters of the Equalist leader, seeing that he wore a mask, as if hiding who he was deep beneath so that nobody, not even his own allies, could tell who he was, like a separate identity.

"Yeah."

"But…what do they want with the Triple Threats? And Bolin?"

"This makes the fifth kidnapping of benders today," one of the Metalbenders revealed.

"Huh? You mean…they've captured other benders, too? Not just the Triple Threats?" Korra asked.

"Earlier this morning, a report was made about two Waterbenders being missing on their way to school. Two hours after that, a second report was that at least three Earthbenders were reported being taken by people wearing masks and riding around on motorcycles. Shortly afterward, we received a call from the United Council that former representative Tenzin hadn't shown up to City Hall, and the last call received was that even former chief, Lin Beifong had gone missing."

Korra had stopped listening when the man revealed that Tenzin had been possibly captured by these Equalists, and if it was true, she wanted to know why.

_Something tells me that whatever these Equalists have in store for their kidnapped victims is definitely not good,_ she figured, and recalled hearing the load of slurry that was uttered by that protestor she and Yue saw, along with being informed by Meelo and Ikki that some people wanted to tear down the so-called bending establishment that existed in the city. _The Equalists have only been targeting those that can bend the elements. A group of non-benders with a prejudice against benders. But why take Tenzin? He's just an elder now, completely harmless._

"…We've been looking for these Equalists for several months now, and we can't track them anywhere," the Metalbending officer confessed. "We've run out of leads and clues, and nobody seems to know where they could be."

"I think I know who might know where to find them," Korra then expressed. "Over at the park one day, I saw a man protesting about how the Equalists would deal with the so-called bending establishment. He was trying to inspire people to join them."

"But it's late," he told Korra. "It's likely he won't be there right now."

"But what about tomorrow when the sun's up?"

"We'll be watching out for him."

As there was nothing further they could tonight, the Metalbenders left the alley square, and Korra and Mako left on Naga to head to the park to wait for the protestor to show up. Though before the police had left, the young Avatar had thought, even when it was only for a moment, that it seemed too convenient for them to just show up like that. But she decided not to dwell on it.

-x-

"…Well, this is where I saw him one day," Korra told Mako, pointing toward a platform where the protestor had been during the times he tried to inspire the people. "And now we wait."

"What makes you certain this guy will know anything about where Bolin and the others are?" Mako asked her.

"I don't. But what choice do we have right now? It's our only potential lead at the moment."

They sat by some trees and waited for the new day to arrive.

"So…why would Bolin be running with the Triple Threats, anyway? I mean, I know we all needed to ante up a lot of yuans, but this seems too extreme to do so." Korra asked Mako.

He was very uncomfortable with her question, but answered, "We used to be with the Triple Threats for a few years."

"What? Did you two…go out and help them…"

"What, hurt others? Harass the non-benders? No. You have no idea what you're talking about. I was their accountant. I just ran numbers for them while Bolin did their dishes. We were orphans, living on the streets. I did what I had to do in order to survive and protect my brother. He's the only family I have left in this world."

"Sorry. Didn't mean to jump to conclusions. Might I ask…what happened to your parents?"

"They were mugged," he reveals and sighs. "We were out one night, and a Firebender came upon us and wanted our money. He was a member of the Agni Kai Triads. He took our money…and then he cut our parents down right in front of us. I was only eight, Bolin was barely six, so he doesn't remember it quite well."

"I'm sorry," Korra gave him her sympathy; she hated how it seemed the people of this city, both the benders and non-benders, suffered personal losses due to the passing of the previous Avatar and the waiting of herself to be the Avatar that was needed to restore order and peace.

"If anything happened to Bolin, I…" Mako couldn't bring himself to say what he might've done if his brother suffered an undeserving fate.

Korra placed her right hand on his shoulder and told him that they would find him, no matter what.

Several hours went by until the sun began to rise from the misty horizon, and from a carefully-selected distance, a lone woman atop a rooftop watched two people asleep beside a Polar Bear Dog and a Fire Ferret as their target for interrogation arrived to start their protest. Behind her was a bison, shaking off the lingering exhaustion it had from the previous day.

"Good morning, Korra, dearest," Yue greeted her bison.

"Grr," Korra growled back, greeting her keeper.

"Grr!" They looked up and saw another Flying Bison, with a man in Air Nomad clothing.

"Any luck so far on your end, Yue?" It was Rohan, who gracefully levitated from off his bison's head and onto the roof.

"I thought we only agreed to observe and keep an eye on Korra, not to intervene directly," Yue told him; as she was the only one that knew, Yue had been sworn by her granddaughter-in-law, Senna, to help Korra as often as possible during their time in Republic City by only intervening on her behalf whenever she was placed in danger where she couldn't protect herself, but it helped her to tell Rohan so that he could also assist.

"I haven't made my presence known to Korra yet," he explained to her. "I'm keeping my distance."

"Hmm… So far, with the assistance of the police, Korra and Mako are going to attempt to get information on the whereabouts of the kidnapped citizens from an Equalist protestor down at the park."

Rohan looked down at the park and saw a man with a megaphone. He couldn't hear much due to their distance, but from the incoherent babble that was all he and Yue could hear, it was obvious that this protestor was attempting to inspire more non-benders to join these Equalists in their struggle for equality by overthrowing the benders. Then, he saw his megaphone get knocked aside by a girl in blue, accompanied by a young man with a red sash around his neck: Korra and Mako.

"I know it's none of my business, but where does Korra get her temper from, anyway?" He asked Yue, who saw the scene transpire.

"I would say that it was your grandfather, simply because he could be serious when necessary," she explained, "but I've been told that blood is thicker than water, so she must get it from Sokka and I when we were younger. I can recall the day I let my anger over Ba Sing Se's unfair rules hindering us from looking for Appa when he was kidnapped and brought to the city."

Rohan looked toward the elderly, white-haired woman and uttered that he had heard of the story of his grandfather's time in the Earth Kingdom capital, recalling a time when the former Tribal Princess in front of him let out her frustration over the limitations of freedom in such a big city hinder them from finding a friend…and sending a woman with a haunting smile away, never to see her again.

"What was that woman's name?" He asked her, afterward.

"She was known simply as Joo Dee," she answered him. "But that's now a name that's synonymous with 'doll', 'dummy' and 'puppet'."

The sight of the Avatar and the Firebending Pro-Bender had progressed into knocking the stand over and scattering papers. Rohan took advantage of this predicament and used his bending to manipulate the air currents down at the park and bring forth one of the papers to them. This impressed Yue with the further-developed ability to Airbend across larger distances. The paper was a picture of Amon, with some advertisement written across, something about an event that was to happen tonight.

"_'Witness the Revelation. At nine tonight.'_," Rohan read. "I got a bad feeling about this, Yue."

"You can say that again, Rohan," she responded. "I, too, have a bad feeling about this."

-x-

After running away from the park and allowing the police that arrived to deal with the situation (if they were going to handle the protestor, who didn't say much of anything useful to them), Korra and Mako had to consider the seriousness of this "Revelation" that was to take place tonight. If it was as bad as they suspected it to be, then not only Bolin, Tenzin and Lin Beifong, but everybody with bending capabilities were in great danger.

"_If your friend's a bender, then my best guess is that he's getting whatever's coming to him,"_ the protestor had expressed to them before they ran off with the picture of Amon advertising the "Revelation" for non-benders.

"…I don't understand why these Equalists didn't put the location on these," Korra sighed, unable to make heads or tails with the advertisement pictures they had.

"It's probably because they didn't want just anybody walking in of this event," Mako expressed, looking at the other four copies he had been able to get before they ran from the park police. "There are four of these, yet each one's different on the back."

With this revelation, Korra turned the picture she had over and found hers had a red dot on it, but all it did was confuse her further.

"So, it's some sort of puzzle?" She questioned, being hopeful.

"Yeah," he answered, enlightened, "of a map! Let's put them together!"

They did just that, and found the location after putting it against another map of the city they were nearby. It was one of those maps that showed where you were currently and they found that the place where this "Revelation" was to be was at a building located by the city's waterfront area. Possibly an old factory or warehouse.

"Well, now we know where it's at," went Korra to Mako. "Let's go and get Bolin and the others."

-x-

The new night was like last night: Foggy and cold. Downtown Republic City's waterfront was a strange and mysterious place, where it seemed like, because of the bending triads, anything and everything could go bad in an instant. People going up and down this way were either unlucky or unfortunate to be mugged by even lesser benders trying to make fast cash every day of the week. Though very much lately, there haven't been any benders, good or bad, wandering around the district. It was as though they had simply felt danger themselves present in the place at night.

"Over there," went Korra, pointing to the building where several people were standing outside, waiting to get in. "Looks like it."

"Yeah," Mako agreed, and they joined in the line of people entering the building.

It appeared that all they needed to do was show their leaflets to the doorman present to be admitted, so it was a good thing they kept the ones they got from the protestor earlier. Four people behind, Korra grabbed Mako's left arm and held onto it, much to his annoyance.

"What are you doing?!" He whispered.

"We'll attract less attention this way," she told him, acting on advice she got from Ikki last week: Do something with someone if you want to hide in plain view of the public.

Further behind them, a pair of cloaked people were looking over the leaflet they had and looking at each other.

"Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" The cloaked man asked his companion.

"Everything happens as it must," a cloaked woman told him in response. "This is the only path left for us to take."

"Hmm?" Korra piped up and looked behind herself, having thought she heard someone speaking.

"Something wrong?" Mako asked her, just as he handed the doorman the leaflet.

"No," she lied, though she hoped it was just her imagination.

"The Revelation is upon us, brother and sister," the doorman expressed to them, and let them into the building to join the rest.

They walked among others through a hallway of pipes and into a large room that made up a large portion of the building itself, in front of a small, well-lit podium or stage, observed by up to, perhaps, a thousand people.

"Wow," Mako uttered in disbelief. "I knew there were people that hated benders…but I never anticipated seeing so many in one place."

"Yeah," Korra agreed with him; though she wondered if this was part of the reason her grandmother hadn't been back in the city for many years after Sokka's passing.

"So many," the cloaked man uttered, shielded by the large crowd from making himself well-known to the people.

"Yes," the cloaked woman agreed. "All with a hatred."

Moments later, a voice over their heads, through a series of megaphones, announced, "Introducing, my fellow citizens of Republic City, your hero, your savior…Amon!"

Lights on the stage shined brightly as a five-men group of Equalists rose up from the floor, one of them, in the middle, wearing a mask just like the one that was displayed on the leaflets and posters of the Equalists. The people cheered him, Amon, like he was to be revered, worshiped like crazy. In the crowd, Korra gazed upon him and felt a shiver of fear for a moment.

"My search for equality," Amon uttered, and the people were silent, "started many years ago. When I was a young boy, I lived a simple life on a farm. Nobody in my family was wealthy…and we weren't benders. This made us easy targets for a Firebender that extorted my father. One day, my father stood up to the man…but when he did, he took my family from me forever…and destroyed my face. I've been forced to hide behind a mask ever since."

_I thought, with the exception of the bending triads, all the other Firebenders weren't considered a threat to the people after the war with the Fire Nation ended,_ thought the cloaked woman, wondering if the Firebender that Amon was speaking of was a member of one of the triads or some rogue bender seeking riches.

"As many of you are aware," he continued, "the Avatar has arrived in the city. She would tell you that bending brings balance to the world. However, she is wrong. All bending has done is bring pain and suffering to everyone. It is the cause behind nearly every war in history of the world. But that is about to come to an end. I know you are wondering, just what is the Revelation? You're going to receive your answer tonight. Ever since the beginning, the spirits have acted as our guardians and protectors…and they have spoken to me, told me that the Avatar has failed humanity…and that it is up to me to usher a new era of balance."

In the crowd, Korra gritted her teeth. Never had she ever heard some nonsense like this! She hadn't failed the world as the Avatar. She hasn't even started being the Avatar yet due to not having successfully achieved the feats of Airbending or mastering the Avatar State like her predecessor before her had. And as much as she felt rushing would probably help, she had to accept, after learning it from other masters, that such important, would-be achievements couldn't be rushed. The Avatar couldn't just magically appear out of nowhere and solve the world's problems instantly.

"They have given me a power that will make equality a reality: The power to remove the bending one has…for good," Amon had revealed, which made the people gasp in disbelief.

_What?_ Korra thought. _But that's impossible! There's only one person alive that has an ability like that._

"This guy's insane," whispered Mako to her. "The power to take away bending? I mean, that's… Only Avatar Aang could do something like that, right?"

Of course, that was only a half-truth, but when only the Avatar from the previous generation was brought into question, that was the only truth.

"As a demonstration, I introduce to you Lightning Bolt Zolt," Amon announced, and another platform rose up from under the stage, revealing several people on their knees and their hands tied behind their backs. "The leader of the Triple Threats and one of the most notorious criminals in Republic City."

The crowd booed at him, but the man, Lightning Bolt Zolt, didn't seem at all intimidated by them.

"Ah, boo yourself!" He grunted.

Korra looked at some of the other benders being displayed in front of the crowd, and pointed Mako toward his brother and the kidnapped former police chief and Air Nation representative, Lin and Tenzin, respectively! The crowd didn't seem the least bit confused at why an Earthbender that used to serve in the Metalbending Police Force and a former councilman for the United Republic were present and gagged up, probably viewing all benders as bad, even when these two did much good before they retired. She made an attempt to go get them off the stage, but Mako prevented her from doing so.

"We can't," he told her. "There's too many people to get hurt, and we'd never get close enough to free Bolin and them. We need a different tactic. A smart tactic."

Korra nodded and then they moved through the crowd to get away. As they did so, the cloaked pair also made bee lines away from the crowd whilst Amon revealed how Lightning Bolt Zolt had amassed a great fortune through the use of his bending and extorting the non-benders of the city.

"…But his days of tyranny against the people are at an end," he continued, just as two of his Equalists went and untied Zolt's restraints. "Now, in the interest of fairness, I shall give him a chance to fight in order to keep his bending."

The crowd gasped and backed away from the stage out of fear of getting singed by Zolt; the leader of the Triple Threats had been known to treat any non-benders unintentionally harmed by him like they were in the way on purpose, paying them no mind to his conscious. They had to suspect that Amon had a lot of confidence in his own abilities to face a powerful bender of the triads like Zolt unrestrained.

-x-

Jin didn't like what had happened yesterday and how he had to go back to Air Temple Island and explain to his wife and mother-in-law that their father and husband had been kidnapped on his way to see the council, and that Master Tenzin was among several benders that had been captured in the last few hours. He blamed himself for Tenzin's capture, of course; he should've gone back to the island and brought him to the United Council himself, not let him leave to do so on his own. Also, he knew that Jinora didn't truly blame him for what happened, whether he was an Airbender or an Air Acolyte, and thus had no anger toward him, but he couldn't help but look down at himself in disgrace. As the councilman representative for the Air Nomads and Air Acolytes, it was his duty to protect not only the interests of the people of the city, but the welfare of the benders and non-benders that resided on the island, even if it cost him his life.

"_Be careful, Jin,"_ Jinora had once told him when he left to begin his first day as the youngest member of the existing United Council. _"Don't get hurt out there."_

And now here he was again, in the office that his father-in-law had once worked in, trying to maintain a semblance of sanity by going over paperwork and old documents, while at the same time awaiting any news on the whereabouts of the missing benders.

_I can't take this waiting any longer,_ he thought, and set aside his quill pen and got up to grab his Air Acolyte cloak to go out looking for the missing benders; he wanted to feel like he was making a difference, and sitting down doing paperwork wasn't helping him make a difference.

Knock-knock-knock! A knocking at his office door came, and he stopped walking towards it.

"Councilman Jin?" A woman's voice called out from behind the door.

"Yes," he answered. "Who is it?"

"Chief Po Kong Beifong," the woman responded, and he opened the door, revealing the only daughter of the missing Lin Beifong: Po Kong seemed to resemble her grandmother at age forty, but without the bun (she wore her hair in a ponytail) and her eyes were jade-green, indicating she was gifted with sight, and she was dressed in the armor of the police to use Metalbending against criminals.

"How may I help you, Chief Po Kong?" He asked her.

"My brother and I received a tip on where to find the missing benders," she explained, holding up a poster of Amon and the Equalists. "We need your authorization to detain the Equalists that might be there for something called the Revelation."

"Yes, of course," he obliged, anything to help find the benders and rescue his father-in-law. "Might I ask where you received this tip from?"

"You already know them," she answered him, being cryptic.

-x-

"…Aaaaaurgh!" Korra had never seen a bender in such pain over losing their bending in such a humiliating defeat.

Lightning Bolt Zolt, in such a show of power, had unleashed lightning of remarkable intensity at Amon, who evaded the assault, grabbed Zolt by his head and did something with his head that made Zolt's lightning turn to fire and then cease altogether. Strangely, however, as she was versed in some of the history of her predecessor and great-uncle, there was something about the way Amon removed the criminal's bending that was off to the new Avatar. She wasn't sure what, but it was just…not right. And worse, it frightened her.

"Any ideas yet, Mako?" She asked him, just as Shady Shin, who was also present when Zolt was defeated, was next to face Amon.

"Just one," he responded, pointing up ahead of the back of the crowd. "You see those machines over there? They're powered by water and steam. If you create some cover, I should be able to grab Bolin and the others before Amon takes their bending away."

Korra looked at where he pointing at, looking like a bunch of large pipes built right into the wall nearby, meaning they probably had water in them.

"Works for me," she expressed. "Good luck."

"You, too," he told her, and they split up to try and save the remaining benders.

She went to the hallway where the pipes were hanging out, but stopped at the sight of a cloaked person already there, looking like they were doing what she was about to try and do.

"Uh-oh," she gasped, and the cloaked person looked up at her, and then threw a pouch or something at the ground, creating a smokescreen. "Ah! Why?!"

The smoke cleared away, and the person was gone, but in their place was the doorman from before.

"What are you doing back here?" He asked her.

"Just trying to find the bathroom?" She tried to feign innocence.

"Aaaaaaaahhh!" They both heard another bender howling at the loss of their bending.

Out in the crowd, Mako was losing his patience at the developing diversion needed to rescue the remaining benders, as the next one up was the third Earthbending boy after his elder brother and sister were defeated by Amon after he had dealt with the remaining Triple Threat Triad members after Shady Shin was defeated. What was taking Korra so long mess with the pipes? Any moment now, there wouldn't be any benders left to rescue, just a bunch of former benders.

Back in the hallway, Korra had just defeated the doorman and found that the pipes were already building up enough water and steam to create the distraction, but she was confused at why it seemed like the mysterious person was probably helping her out. But before she could use her bending to do something, something out on the stage had already happened.

BOOM! Some sort of explosion occurred and a series of hissing sounds came after it. People were screaming and Korra could hear the shuffling of footsteps coming her way. She jumped onto the pipes on the walls and saw a rush of people running toward the doors.

"Attention!" A voice shouted over a megaphone. "This is the police! Cease and desist! We have the place surrounded!"

The Metalbending Police Force! They had found them! Korra was impressed at the fact that they showed up just when things were getting serious and ran back to the stage, but it was only in time to see Amon, who found time to do the worst, taking the bending away from Tenzin, Lin Beifong, and Bolin, who were all unable to do anything to defend themselves.

"Bolin!" She heard Mako scream, and then Amon ran off into the smoke that generated from the large hole in the roof caused by the two airships being used by the police.

"The era of bending is at an end!" She turned and saw an Equalist that wielded a pair of kali sticks that seemed to surge with electricity. "You benders have no place left in the world!"

"Oh, I wouldn't count us out just yet," she told the man, and then called her Polar Bear Dog, who came in through the hall and bit him on his left arm, which prompted him to defend himself through the use of his kali sticks, shocking Naga to let go of him.

"We'll meet again!" He threatened Korra before running off into the smokescreen to join up with his fellow Equalists. "The end of bending is at hand!"

As much as Korra was disgusted with Amon, she was just as disgusted with this guy…and anybody that demonstrated an unjustified hatred against all benders.

-x-

Despite the intervention of the Metalbending Police Force, only a total of twenty Equalists were caught, all of them just a bunch of new recruits. They would be charged, though, and then incarcerated for their involvement in the rally and the kidnapping of the benders harmed; this was made easy on account that Tenzin and Lin had recognized them when their masks had been removed, and the other benders kidnapped recognized them as former neighbors that moved away a year ago. The building was left with at least eight Metalbenders watching over it in case there was something overlooked by them, and everyone else left to go to the hospital to see if the healers could try and undo what had happened to the kidnapped benders.

Korra looked at Tenzin and thought she had never seen him in such a state of depression; she suspected that as the only Airbending child of the previous Avatar, he was immensely proud of Airbending…and the thought of losing it destroyed him deep down. When they got to the hospital and some veteran healers versed in Waterbending examined him, Lin and Bolin thoroughly for half an hour each, Korra was worried how they would cope with their loss of bending. This was something the healers were puzzled by completely; according to the oldest of them that studied under a bender that studied under Katara, it was as though their bending was severed from them, and no amount of healing could undo whatever it was that this Amon person did.

"It'll be alright, Bo," Mako tried to assure his brother, who looked crushed at the thought of never Earthbending again for the rest of his life.

"Father!" Korra looked down the hall and saw Rohan, Councilman Jin and Yue had arrived; she assumed that Rohan and Jin came to get Tenzin while Yue came to make sure that she and the others weren't hurt.

Tenzin looked up at his son and in-law, but then looked back at the floor; he knew it wasn't right to not say anything to them, but he was still coping with the loss of his bending.

"Korra," went Yue to her, "what happened out there?"

"We…saw Amon and his Equalists at a rally," she stated. "It ended pretty badly. Amon, he… Somehow, he can take a person's bending away…for good."

"What?!" Jin piped up, alarmed. "But…that's not possible. Only Avatar Aang…and those before him had such an ability."

"But we saw him do it," said Mako to him.

"He put his hand on my head," added Bolin, finally speaking up after being informed that he would never Earthbend again, "and then…poof. Just like that. I couldn't bend at all after that."

"That's exactly what happened with me, as well," went the elderly Lin, who, merely for defensive purposes, continued to use Metalbending armor provided to her by her children after she had retired from the force, though her armor was painted brown and green to distance her from the police she used to work with. "I don't even feel connected to the ground, anymore."

Yue had seen a tear fall from the woman's right eye…and couldn't believe how crushed they each were.

"Rohan," she then spoke up, "is it possible we can invite the Beifongs and Mako and Bolin to the island for the night? Maybe they just need a quiet setting to adjust to what has happened."

"Yeah," he agreed with her. "Maybe that's what they need."

-x-

It was a quiet flight back to Air Temple Island. Rohan and his bison, named Gyatso in honor of the Airbending Master that taught his grandfather everything he knew at the time, carried his father, Jin and the Beifong family, while Yue and her bison carried Mako, Bolin, Pabu, Naga and Great-Granddaughter Korra through the night sky.

"Yue," went Korra to her grandmother, "there's a different reason you asked that they all come to the island…isn't there?"

Yue turned away from the sight of the island and at her granddaughter, giving a slight nod in the positive manner.

"I'm not sure how Amon was able to acquire such a power to remove people's bending," she explained her motive, "but I have a doubt that it's permanent. If he can take people's bending away…then maybe, just maybe…I can give their bending back."

"What?!" Mako gasped, just as Bolin looked away from the ocean and at the elderly woman. "Can you really do that?"

"I can try, but I can't promise anything," Yue corrected herself. "I haven't done this in many years. Not since…for a long time."

Korra then realized that Yue had purposely withheld some form of explanation that seemed to bother her a little; Yue had said "not since", but then changed it to "for a long time", meaning that something had to have happen to her to make her change her choice of words. As far as she suspected, it might've had something to do with the last time she was in Republic City.

When they landed on the grounds, Bolin hoped for dear life that Lady Yue could restore his bending, even if it was only for a little while, just to lift a boulder like he used when he was little.

"Ah," Yue yawned.

"Perhaps a night's rest would do us some good?" Rohan suggested, not wanting Yue to strain herself because of her age.

"Patience is a virtue," she agreed, but promised Bolin that there would be no hesitation in trying to help him tomorrow.

-x-

The next morning, as the rising sun shined on the pavilion used for meditation, Yue, who was rested, leaned against the wooden support structure where she waited for Bolin to arrive. Whilst waiting, she pondered one of the big questions she had thought about since coming back to the city that served as the symbol of balance and peace to the Four Nations: What really happened years back before she left after Sokka's passing. In honesty, she hadn't been the same since that day, but she tried to move on, to accept that nobody, no matter how much they maintained their health, no matter how much they stayed away from danger, could live forever. Besides that, she had, along with Aang at that time, made certain that what had transpired that day would never be repeated ever again. She had done what she could to ensure that nobody would suffer such cruelty at the hands of those that would use their bending to sink to low places and expect to get away with their crimes. In the past, she had made a difference between life and further death…but she had given the very credit to her brother-in-law to avoid being questioned…and because, as the people of the city would view it until such future events stated otherwise, he did more than she ever did.

"_But it was you that put an end to the madness before I did, Yue,"_ she recalled Aang's words to her, three days after Sokka died. _"I won't forget that it was you, not me, that should go down in history as the one that saved the people. And Sokka… I know that he's proud of you, just as I'm proud of you."_

"_Thank you, Aang,"_ she recalled herself telling him, and hugged him as tears fell from her eyes. _"Thank you very much."_

A tear fell from her left eye in the here and now, and she wiped it away.

"Thank you," she told herself.

"Um, Lady Yue?" She turned to see Bolin, who looked like he'd been laid low because of last night.

"Bolin," she greeted, and pointed to the space beside her on the right side of the pavilion. "I hope you got a good night of sleep."

"I did. Uh, look, before we…commence, I just want you to know that I thank you for your efforts, even if nothing happens. I appreciate what you've done."

"You're very welcome. Well, then, let's get on with it. Stand right there."

Bolin obeyed and stood in front of her on her right side. She then placed her hands on his chest and forehead, very different from the way Amon had placed his on him.

"Try to relax," she told him, and he closed his eyes along with her.

Yue thought of the great times she had in the past, along with the great times she spent in the present, not letting the hurt she experienced put her down. She wanted to do good, and she couldn't if weighed down by negativity; she wasn't doing this for herself…she was doing this to help others. Moments after, just as Korra, Jinora, Jin, Tenzin, Lin and the others had shown up, Yue's body had started to glow blue…while Bolin's glowed green! It was an unusual sight to them.

"Whoa," Mako gasped, having only heard that something like this had happened before over a century before the city was ever founded.

Then, as soon as the light show occurred, it ceased, and Yue opened her eyes and removed her hands from Bolin. The boy felt a little different from before, like he'd been put in a hot bath and left to wash his worries away, and he felt calmer than usual.

"How do you feel?" Yue asked him.

"Like…like I'm okay," he answered; he couldn't think of any other way to describe his feeling.

"Try and lift that stone over there," she instructed him, pointing to a large stone that was just a decorative feature of the island.

Bolin ran over to the stone, raised his arms up, focusing on bending…and just as the others watched in hope that something good had happened, the stone slowly began to rise from off the ground. His bending, a little weak right now, had been returned to him.

"Whoa," Mako awed in amazement, just as his brother set the stone down.

"Thank you," he praised Yue, who merely bowed her head.

-x-

"What was that you did to give them back their bending, Yue?" Rohan asked, seeing Yue brush her bison's fur in the afternoon, hours after restoring the bending of Tenzin and Lin.

"Oh," she stopped brushing and turned to face him, "it was just an ability Aang and I called Energybending, the bending art that predates the Bending Arts that the world knows about."

"Energybending? Is that what enabled Aang to take away Fire Lord Ozai's bending?"

"Yes. It can take away one's bending…or give it back."

"But…how?"

"Energy, Rohan. Life energy. That's what was bent all the time in what was called the era before the Avatar ever existed. The elemental arts came much later, and Energybending became all but extinct."

"And I thought that only the Avatar could do it."

"That's not true. People before the Avatar were capable of such feats. Aang and I looked deep into the past and discovered that there were other Avatars able to Energybend… But few had learned of this ability…and even fewer have used it. Aang and I were the first to do so in many hundreds of generations, taught by an ancient Lion Turtle."

Rohan had seen the spark of happiness return to his father and Lin when Yue had returned to them their bending, just as Bolin had been happy to Earthbend once more. But with the return of their bending came the promise of greater danger, which was the reason he came to see Yue.

"Yue," he started, "my father, the Beifongs and Jin were talking about you, trying to decide on what to do now that we know how far the Equalists will go in what they plan to do…and I have to agree with them on what's most likely the best solution for now."

Yue sat down beside Korra and gestured for Rohan to continue.

"Until we can deal with all of the Equalists…and Amon, you have to be careful when you go out there," he went on. "I've no doubt that you'll, eventually, pass this knowledge onto Avatar Korra, once she successfully Airbends and achieves mastery of it, along with the spirituality that comes with being the Avatar, but until such a time comes to pass, you're the only bender in the United Republic that can restore bending. With Amon out there, none of us are safe from him."

Yue nodded in the positive; she knew it was possible that she could be in great danger like the other benders the Equalists would go after, but the level of danger she would be in would've, more than likely, rival that of her great-grandchild, Korra. But there was some doubt that Amon would go after Korra right now; most people that go up against the Avatar were put in their places as they were defeated, so it was likely that she would be saved for last. Yue believed in martyrs, saints that people could believe in, even after their defeats or whatever happened to them.

"And for a short moment, I had thought you were going to suggest that I try and bestow Energybending to a few of the Air Acolytes or whoever you had in mind in case something did happen to me," she told him, trying not to be humorous.

"No, Yue," he assured her. "We can't have many people going around abusing such an ability to bestow or take away bending. And as far as we know about Amon, all he can do is take away bending, unable to bestow it. You…and Korra, eventually, will be relied upon should more innocent benders fall prey to Amon and the Equalists. Heh, it's a little amazing, really. Right now, you're the most important person in the city with your bending."

"Except no one must ever know about this," Yue expressed, suspecting that the Beifongs and Mako and Bolin have been sworn to secrecy to ensure that Yue would be protected from Amon.

"That's right," he confirmed her suspicions. "We've all been sworn to secrecy. As far as we're willing to admit, my father's bending, along with Bolin's and Lin's came back overnight."

Meanwhile, on the training grounds that sported a symbol that reminded her of the Moon and Ocean Spirits, Tui and La, respectively, Korra, amazed by what she saw Yue do earlier, was at work trying to perform Airbending so that soon after, she could be bestowed the gift of Energybending and help the innocent benders of the city. She wasn't concerned with the bending triads, as they were a bunch of criminals that abused their bending toward the innocent, but the benders that did nothing to deserve the hate of the non-bending people… That was another mess, altogether. Somehow, she would have to overcome this obstacle that was in front of her and become what the people versed in the history and lore of the Avatar refer to a "Fully Realized Avatar", one that has mastered all the elements and the Avatar State, which would afford her access to the power and knowledge of those that came before her.

_This is going to take a long, long time to achieve,_ she thought, performing the circular motions that the Airbenders did all the time. _Then, there's trying to get into the Pro-Bending championship, dealing with the Equalists, Amon… It's like my workload just increased drastically in the weeks I've been here. Hopefully, things won't get any worse than they did last night._

But she still had questions that were raised from last night: Who was that cloaked person she encountered while trying to rescue Bolin and the others? For a while, it seemed like they was an enemy or someone else trying to deal with the Equalists. Maybe even a member of the bending triads looking to get revenge on the Equalists. Whoever they were, Korra was certain of one thing: If she saw them once before, she was likely to see them again, and when she did, she would find out who they were.

A/N: With the deviation of this chapter, more change will be expected. Not a lot of change, but an interesting measure of it. Read it and review it! Peace!


	5. Chapter 5: Reluctance and Admittance

Creation began on 07-12-13

Creation ended on 08-11-13

The Legend of Korra

Reluctance and Admittance

Korra rode Naga across the frozen tundra of the South Pole, like a traveler without a destination, just enjoying herself with a measure of free time. She looked over to her left and saw, up in the air, Rohan, flying on his glider, waving at her, so she waved back.

"Grrr!" She turned to her right and saw Yue on her Flying Bison that she shared the same namesake with, and was surprised to see her great-grandmother looking younger.

Yue, for some strange reason, looked almost the same age as Korra did, with her elderly, snow-white hair restored to a healthy, snow-white with brown edges or trimmings. It was as though the spirits had restored her to a much younger state before she became an elder pushing over a century and a half.

"We need you, Korra," the younger Yue told her great-granddaughter.

"I need you, too," Korra responded back to her, and then, without warning, the sky, which had a quiet, crystal-clear day, turned into a cold, snowy night. "Uh-oh!"

She was about to warn Yue and Rohan to get to safety, but they were no longer in the sky. They had disappeared completely! The falling snow became heavy, and the winds blowing harshly. Naga, despite her efforts to stay on the ground, was blown off her feet.

"Aaaaaahh!" Korra yelled, as they fell into the frozen waters of the ocean surrounding the frozen wasteland that was their home. "Aaaahh!"

The world then felt like it was turned upside-down, and Korra fell onto a hard surface. She found herself somewhere on the streets of what she assumed was the city of Ba Sing Se, judging from the sight of a massive wall that looked like it span across miles. Above her and Naga was the moon, shining so brightly that they could see no stars out.

"Eh-heh-heh," she soon heard a chuckle from behind them, and turned to see who or what it was. "To think it would end here."

It was Amon! And his Equalists! They just appeared out of nowhere and surrounded them. She was about to attack with her Earth and Firebending, but two Equalists threw bolas at her arms and legs, sending her to the ground. Amon soon approached her and Korra felt great fear because him.

"After I take away your bending," he said to her, reaching down to her head with his right hand, "you'll be reduced to nothing."

Then…her world went dark.

"Aaaaahh!" She gasped, rising up from off her bed, finding herself back in her room on Air Temple Island, sweating. "Huh? Oh… Oh."

"Hmm?" Naga, who'd been asleep on the floor, looked up at her with concern.

"It's okay, Naga," she told her, petting her head. "It was just a dream."

Slowly, her memory came back: It had been at least three days since the revealing of the Equalists' goal to destroy bending by removing it from the benders, permanently. Three days since the night Amon had taken the bending of Bolin, Tenzin and Lin Beifong… And three days since her great-grandmother, Yue, had managed to restore their bending before they all came to the oath that Yue, the only one left alive that was capable of what she called Energybending, be protected by not talking about her ability until Korra herself had managed to master Airbending and the Avatar State.

Korra lied back down and fell to sleep, unaware that at the moment her head hit the pillow, her Northern Water Tribe relative had turned over in her sleep beside her Flying Bison.

-x-

"…There is a madman loose in our beloved city," the Northern Water Tribe representative of the United Republic Council expressed to his fellow council members. "He's threatening to tear it down from the very bottom. We need a task force whose sole mission is capturing and putting away this Equalist leader for good."

"Not a good idea, Tarrlok," went Jin, trying to be the most logical (and most level-headed) person on the council. "A move that aggressive would only cause more tension and division between the benders and non-benders of the city. We'd risk starting a civil war."

"I'm more inclined to agree with Tarrlok's idea, Jin," said the elderly Fire Nation councilwoman to him, "but who would lead such a task force?"

"I would," Tarrlok answered her.

Jin suspected Tarrlok of what he had learned from Tenzin shortly before he stood down as councilman of the Air Nation, that Tarrlok, the former youngest member of the council before himself, was trying to gain more power through his position on the council.

"We should think back over forty years ago," Tarrlok continued, "when the city was threatened by another madman by the name of Yakone. Jin, your grandfather-in-law wasn't afraid to face him head-on when things went from bad to worse."

Jin frowned and expressed, "This…is a completely different situation that we're dealing with…and you have no right to compare yourself to Avatar Aang."

Tarrlok inhaled a breath of new air and then resumed, "Amon's not going to stop with just the bending triads, Jin. You know that. Eventually, he'll come after every bender in the city. Our friends and families. No one will be spared."

Jin couldn't pretend or deny that Amon would spare the Airbenders that he grew up around. He couldn't after knowing that the Equalist leader had taken Tenzin's bending from him, and he'd never done anything wrong to deserve such a fate. While forever grateful that Yue restored his bending, who was to say that Amon wouldn't try to do so allover again? And then who would he go after in order to rid the world of Airbending?

Meelo? Ikki? Rohan? Jinora? He shuddered at the thought of his wife being a victim of the Equalists' anti-bending revolution, and she was so peaceful that she wouldn't even hurt a Spider-Fly that got stuck in its own web. But he stood by what he believed in, and that was that such an aggressive move like a task force being made to go after the Equalists would only result in further disharmony between the benders and non-benders of the city.

At the end of today's meeting, the creation of a task force against the Equalists was approved by four of the five council members; it was only Jin that saw trouble with the choice and stayed silent.

-x-

Even when the temple had access to purified water by means of the sinks made over the years after the founding of the United Republic of Nations, Yue still found it simple enough to get water from the other sources available to the people, like the water from ocean because she could separate it from the salt that made it non-drinkable. It was always something about keeping in shape by doing whatever helped her stay in shape, regardless of her advanced age. True to the perception of those that saw her, she hadn't lost much of her vitality with the passage of time. Almost one-hundred-fifty-six years old, the former Tribal Princess that helped in ending the One-Hundred Year War that the Fire Nation instigated when Fire Lord Sozin was alive was one of the most remarkable of people from the Water Tribes that ever lived…or will ever live.

As she carried a jug of ocean water back up the path toward the temple grounds, she stopped in front of a different path that led to a small patch of space that was held in high regard, and was considered a spiritual place because of what resided there. Deciding that she had time to spare, she went up the smaller path, wanting to see a familiar face. Or rather, what passed for a familiar face.

_It's been so long since we last met,_ she thought, entering a small cave that had engravings atop it.

A soft breeze seemed to emanate from deep within, with the sounds of whispers coming from everywhere. What was in there was worth the journey. In three minutes, Yue stopped walking and set the jug down, palming her hands together and bowing her head to what was in front of her.

"It's been a while since we last saw each other…Aang," she uttered, staring down at the resting place of the previous Avatar she knew.

A small grave, simple in its design, with a grave marker that had Aang's name, age up to his death, and his designation as the Avatar of the Air Nomads written on it. After his death, Air Nomads from the Southern Air Temple had come to the island wondering what was to happen with his remains. They suggested that he be buried at the temple of his birth and upbringing, though Tenzin had found his father's will that declared that Aang be buried on the island he made for his family and the Air Nomads and Air Acolytes that inhabited it. He was the second family member that died, as Sokka was the first.

"_Yue!" _Aang's voice echoed in her mind, as she recalled that one day, that one, awful day she wished she could let go of.

Lately, the memory of what happened seemed to grow heavier for her heart. She thanked Aang and Katara for their support in helping her grieve…but it seemed she spent the rest of her life grieving…or maybe…she had been wasting the rest of her life trying not to grieve, to fight back against the hurt and desire for a different brand of justice that wasn't justice. Or maybe…she had a different type of emotion in her that caused her some problems as the years went by…that she was hinting at but denying.

_I miss the old days,_ she thought, placing her right palm on the marker. _I hope that there's a meaning, an explanation to what's going on in this day and age, Aang._

Then she picked up the jug and left the grave. Later on, she would meditate and try to clear her mind of the lingering negative energy she might've had in herself.

"Yue?" She saw Korra, who was still at it with her Airbending training out on the training grounds. "Are you alright?"

Before she could answer, the oldest bender currently on the island suddenly saw her great-granddaughter shift into her husband, who had a look of concern on his face.

"Yue?" He asked, and she shook her head to get the image out of her perception, seeing her great-granddaughter once again.

"Yue?" Korra asked again.

"Yeah, just a little tired," she answered her, which was true; she had been up in the early morning hours and spent a great deal of the day practicing her Waterbending. "You?"

"Just tired of making little progress," she answered back.

"But you've made some progress since you started, Korra," Yue assured her. "You bend with more proficiency and agility, akin to the Airbenders, even when it's not the air that you're bending. I'm just going to separate the salt from this water in the jug and then turn in for the night. I'll see you tomorrow morning, okay?"

"Okay. Sleep peacefully and tight."

"Thank you."

-x-

Why did it always have to be that day? That awful, awful day that has devastated Yue for many years? The people in the crowd, the ruthless criminal bender, Aang and Sokka coming after him on the street…and herself becoming aware of the situation just moments after seeing them whilst out shopping on a little holiday that was a month after she'd been informed that she was a grandmother allover again for a new child one of her children had recently. It was like she getting punished by the spirits for something she knew she was ignoring, but she didn't know what it was, exactly, only that she knew she was ignoring it.

"This ends now, Yakone!" Aang yelled at the man that had been torturing the city and its citizens for years without anyone to stop him until that day.

Then, Yakone Bloodbent Aang, along with several people nearby…in broad daylight! While Aang was resisting to a degree, but nowhere near the same level as Yue and Sokka, who was a Waterbending Master himself, trained by his wife, who gave him the gift. They were only slightly affected, like they had gained an unnecessary amount of weight right there and then.

"Stop this, Yakone!" Sokka demanded of him, unsheathing his sword; he'd been ready and willing to stop Yakone by means of deadly force if it became necessary to save others, as Bloodbending was something he promised both his wife and sister he would never do, hating it the moment he was a victim of it when Hama was still alive.

Before Yue, who also had her own sword with her that day, could help Sokka and Aang, Yakone focused Bloodbending Sokka, lifting him off his feet and levitating him higher than he did Aang. Sokka felt like his insides were being squeezed by massive ropes tied around him, and all his perception was focused on Yue, who feared for the worst.

"You're as troublesome as the Avatar here is, Councilman Sokka!" Yakone told him, raising his hands up. "Time to remedy this for good with you!"

"Yue!" Sokka screamed, knowing that his mastery of Waterbending couldn't help him.

"Sokka!" Yue gasped.

"Yue!" He screamed for the final time, and then the world went dark.

"Sokka!" Yue screamed, waking up to the new day, reaching out with her right arm in front of her, sweating heavily as she panted. "Sokka…"

"Grrr," she turned to her window and saw her bison by it, looking down at her.

"Korra," she said to the bison, getting up out of bed. "It's okay. Just a bad dream."

She turned back to her bed and at a small photograph of herself and Sokka, decades back when their family had just started after she gave birth to their eldest daughter, Sora.

"It was just a bad dream," she sighed, just as a tear fell from her right eye.

-x-

One of the ways Jin liked to work out any stress he felt he had on the job as representative of the Air Nomads and Air Acolytes after spending the hours that he did in the city was to visit the tomb of Avatar Aang and pay his respects to the greatest Airbender he had read about and was told about from those that met him.

"…It stinks a little after you passed away, Avatar Aang," he told the grave. "I don't know when the world became so dependent upon a single person to maintain balance and order between what eventually became the Four Nations, but I find it almost cruel and unfair. I can't say that fate is unkind, but trying to keep the United Republic you helped found with Fire Lord Zuko and your friends from being torn apart through the inequality that's been causing disorder ever since you died…is certainly better than agreeing with the rest of a council that want to stop the group of people that have a grudge against the bending population. At least, I hope it is…since I don't like people fighting for unjust causes that are the result of something you think is good, but might actually be bad."

"You mean, the council has made a decision to do something about the Equalists that you don't agree with, Jin?" He turned around and saw Jinora by the entrance to her grandfather's tomb.

"Yes, Jinora," he answered her. "You don't need to worry. It's just in the city, not the island."

"I'm not worried about our home," she told him. "I'm worried about the Air Nomads and Air Acolytes."

He nodded his head, said that he agreed with her, and then they left out the tomb to return to the temple, as it was almost dinner time.

-x-

For the umpteenth time, both Yue and Korra noticed how the three Airbending girls, Yuki, Ibuki and Kyoko seem to glare daggers toward Jin and Jinora during meal times. It was like they had a grudge or something.

"Everyone, we have a visitor," went Meelo, who just showed up, and gestured to who was behind him.

The Water Tribe relatives had seen pictures of this man before, but never in person. The guy was dressed in business attire associated toward the Water Tribes, but were of a darker shade of blue, was clearly of Water Tribe descent, judging by his skin tone and eyes, and had his long hair in three ponytails to manage the strands.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" He asked them.

"This is my home, Tarrlok," responded Tenzin to the man, while Jin's right hand reflexively balled into a fist; he was uncomfortable with seeing uninvited guests. "We're about to eat dinner."

"That's good, because I'm famished," the man, Tarrlok expressed. "Airbenders never turn away a hungry guest, am I right?"

Nobody spoke up, so Yue answered, "No, they don't. It goes against Air Nomad customs."

Of course, Yue would know as much as Tenzin would, learning of their Air Nomad heritage during the time the world was mending and the expansion of Republic City and the creation of Air Temple Island.

"Ah, you two must be Yue of the Northern Water Tribe…and Avatar Korra of the Southern Water Tribe. It is an honor to be in your presence. I'm Councilman Tarrlok, representative of the Northern Water Tribe in Republic City."

"Pleasure to meet you," Yue and Korra greeted him at the same time as he sat at the table with Meelo.

"Hey," went Ibuki, leaning on the table and looking at Tarrlok, "why do you have three ponytails and smell like a lady? That's weird."

"Well, aren't you a precocious, little girl?" Tarrlok chuckled. "It's easier for me to manage my hair this way, and as for why I smell this way… I walked past a flower shop on my way here."

Somehow, Yue knew what Tenzin and Jin were thinking: There's no way that Tarrlok would just show up here, on an island that served as a sanctuary and home to benders and non-benders under the element of air…unless he wanted something. She thought back to how they had all taken a vow of silence to keep Yue's ability to Energybend and restore bending secret until Korra mastered Airbending, and could only hope that Tarrlok knew nothing of it.

"So, uh…just what is it that brings you here, Councilman Tarrlok?" Korra asked him, breaking the ice that the others were hinting at breaking.

Yue let her mind wander a little as Tarrlok explained that he was assembling a small task force to apprehend the Equalists and Amon in order to end the Anti-Bending Revolution, and that he would like for Korra to join. Although Yue didn't let her mind wander too far to not hear that much, something she was rather against, and not because going up against the Equalists so soon would be disastrous for her.

"Me? Join your task force?" Korra questioned, surprised, and then she looked at Yue, Tenzin, Rohan and Jin. "Oh, I'm sorry, but I can't do that."

That, of course, caught said four people off guard. While Rohan was willing to reduce her training by as much as possible for her to help her new friends with the upcoming Pro-Bending tournament and even infiltrate the Equalists at their rally, he was surprised that she didn't jump at the idea of helping this man his father had a rivalry against apprehend the people against bending. And Jin, who hadn't yet mentioned to everyone that Tarrlok was assembling the task force, was just as surprised that Korra declined the opportunity; he didn't know if it was because she wanted to focus more on Airbending, because she was still behind on Pro-Bending training, or all of the above. But Yue, on the other hand, suspected something a little different for her granddaughter's decline in Tarrlok's offer.

"Don't take this the wrong way," Korra explained. "I do want to stop the Equalists, but I still need to train in order to be the Avatar, and to do that, I need to master Airbending. It's the primary reason I came to Republic City."

"Yeah, that's right," Yue added credibility to her explanation. "She's only mastered three of the four elements, which puts her at disadvantage against most people looking to stir up trouble. When she masters Airbending, she'll be of much greater help to the people and to the world."

The rest of dinner was quiet, and when Tarrlok did leave, he swore to Korra that she'd be hearing from him, that he would not give up on her joining his task force to stop the Equalists.

_The first time I met a representative of the Northern Water Tribe on the current council,_ thought Yue, helping Ikki and Meelo gather up the dishes, _and already, I find him to be quite__…odd._

_He's persistent,_ thought Jin, feeling stressed out a little. _He'll go to great lengths._

"So, who's going to say it?" Rohan asked Yue and Jin when they met up again.

"Say what?" Yue questioned.

"Whatever there is to say about Tarrlok?" He explained.

"What makes you think there's anything to say about him?" Jin asked him.

"He's a persistent person, probably willing to go to extremes to do something."

"I just think he's an odd person," Yue told them.

"At least he doesn't know what we don't need to worry about," Jin expressed calmly, referring to Yue's ability to bend life energy.

Yue and Rohan sighed in agreement with him; Jin was the only member of the current United Republic Council that knew of Yue's Energybending ability, and that she could apply it to give bending back to the people that lost it to Amon. The elderly woman was also pleased to know that her performing of the bending didn't weaken her, despite it being based on life energy itself being the source; she deduced it had something to do with a surprise visit that happened decades ago.

"Goodnight, Jin!" They heard Yuki, Ibuki and Kyoko say to Jin, as they turned in for the night and returned to the women's dormitory of the temple.

"Goodnight," he responded, waving them off.

-x-

Yue had no idea how she got here, but it didn't distract her from the beauty. It was a grand forest that had trees that seemed to stretch high above the clouds, and her bison, Korra, seemed younger, as though she'd been regressed to the little bison she had been when they first met at the Western Air Temple, where Yue had discovered her dual heritage and ancestry. She didn't know how far up these trees were, but could only assume that they were very high, as tall as the mountains of the world or the skyscrapers of Republic City.

"Grrr!" Korra growled, as they flew towards a tall tree that had apples and oranges growing on the branches. "Grrr!"

They floated in front of it and Yue grabbed a bunch of oranges and put them in a basket. She then plucked a few and fed her bison.

"Hey, Yue, Korra!" Yue turned and saw her great-granddaughter floating toward them on a twister. "I've finally did it! I mastered Airbending!"

"That's good for you," Yue told her.

"Grrr!" Korra growled in appreciation toward her Avatar namesake.

Suddenly, the sky, which had been sunny and clear above the clouds, turned a dark shade of red, and then it began to rain upon them. But when Yue raised up her left hand, she gasped, for it wasn't water that was falling from the sky above. It was blood!

"Aaaaaahhh!" Korra screamed, and lost her bending focus, falling to the ground below.

"No!" Yue screamed, and had her bison dive to rescue her granddaughter. "We're coming!"

They dove down, and for a long time couldn't see where the girl was heading. It was like she had disappeared from their sight. It continued to rain blood, but now it was heavy, and with strong winds that not even Yue's Airbending could protect her from.

"Wh…whoa!" Yue gasped, and fell off her bison's saddle. "Aaaaahh!"

As she fell into the clouds beneath her, she felt the cold air of a familiar environment, and broke through the clouds as she entered the air space of a frozen terrain. There was water below her, and, unless she did something to slow down her fall, she would die.

"Ah! Aaaah!" She panicked, and tried to bend as much of the water from below her as she could, but it was no use; she was too far up, and the water was too far down to be bended by her.

SPLASH! She made contact…and then she sank. She sunk into the deep, cold darkness.

GASP! She found herself waking up, panting and sweating, back in her room in the temple. It had been just another dream. Another realistic dream.

"Okay," she sighed. "No more pie for desert for me."

She lied there awake for the rest of the early morning. It would still be a long, two hours before she got out of bed and did anything.

-x-

Bolin felt lonely. His and Mako's apartment in the very attic of the Pro-Bending Arena building was so bare (even though Pabu was there with him) since Mako had left on what he told his brother was a simple get-together with a new friend he met just yesterday out in the city. He tried to relieve his sense of loneliness through further practice for the upcoming tournament; with the passing days, his restored Earthbending became more proficient and stronger, but that didn't help much. After what happened to him to get him captured by the Equalists to begin with, the money Shady Shin had given him, which, according to Mako, was more than half of what they had needed to participate in the tournament, was given to the Beifongs; as much as Bolin wanted for his team to enter the championship, the mere fact that the money was criminal money, and that he had taken it just to be extra muscle for the Triple Threats, wasn't worth the loss of his bending or the loss of anyone else's bending to a monster like Amon, who didn't even distinguish between good and bad. There was no amount of money in the whole world that could measure up to his family, friends or bending abilities.

Looking out the window as the afternoon sun began to set, he gazed at Air Temple Island and its neighboring landmass with Avatar Aang's statue. He figured it was the perfect time to go see some popular faces that helped him days ago.

-x-

"…Wow, I didn't expect most of the kids to be capable of mastering Aang's Air Scooter technique before they reached the age ten," Yue told Rohan, as they had seen several children gifted with Airbending, aside from Yuki, Ibuki and Kyoko, riding around the temple grounds on balls of air.

"They had months to master the technique from the other masters," he explained to her. "But it'll be years before they are able to master it any further than Avatar Aang did when he was older."

"Oh, you don't need to remind me," she uttered. "It was difficult for me to master years later after learning it from during the One-Hundred Year War. When I finally did after turning thirty, I nearly fell and broke my left leg."

"Ouch," Rohan expressed; rather than riding around on his grandfather's Air Scooter, he prefers to ride around on his father's Air Wheel, as it took less time and concentration on manipulating.

"Yeah, ouch. It was a good thing I was practicing at the South Pole."

As they had walked down the path from the temple to the caves where the wild Sky Bison herd resided, they saw a boy getting off a small boat that had arrived to the island's pier. It was Bolin, looking pleased to have arrive at the island.

"Huh?" Rohan went, confused. "I didn't know Korra invited one of her friends."

"Korra didn't mention inviting anybody to me, either," Yue told him.

They went over to Bolin and he seemed happy to see them.

"Hello, honorable instructors," he greeted them.

"So, what brings you here this evening?" Yue asked him.

"Oh, I don't really remember," he joked a little. "Oh, wait, now I do. I was rescued from the Equalists and you gave me back my bending. Thank you again."

"Oh, don't mention it," she said.

"Bolin?" They turned to the upper level of the path and saw Korra, sweating from excessive training. "What are you doing here?"

"He came to thank us again for rescuing him from the Equalists and restoring his bending," went Rohan, who then looked back at the pier where another boat, one of those fast boats, arrived, and a mousy, elderly man that looked like he still had a lot of life in him, carrying a large basket.

"May we help you with that, sir?" Bolin questioned the man.

The elder nodded in the negative and announced, "Delivery for Avatar Korra. Councilman Tarrlok sends his compliments and urges you to reconsider his offer."

"Kindly let him know I've not changed my mind," Korra responded, accepting the large basket from him, and he bowed his head before turning the way back to the boat.

"Who's this Tarrlok?" Bolin asked them, helping Korra by holding the basket. "Has he been harassing you or something? I could have a few words with him."

"Heh-heh-heh! No, Bolin, nothing like that," Korra told him, a little amused. "He's…just a man that works with Jin on the council, representing the Northern Water Tribe."

"Oh. I like that better."

"He must've been one of those hard-working men before he joined the council," Yue expressed, looking at several of the items obscured by flowers in the large basket. "Or is well liked by the people to be able to send gifts like these."

"Or he's being persistent," added Rohan.

"That, too," she agreed.

-x-

Mako hadn't really expected to be able to meet the genius behind the Satomobile after being almost hit by his daughter the day before his date with her. An opportunity to meet Hiroshi Sato was like hearing the stories of Avatar Aang when he was alive. And seeing the inner workings of Future Industries' main factory, watching as dozens of Satomobiles were being constructed, was like an old dream come true.

"So, what do you think of my little operation here?" Hiroshi Sato asked him.

"It's really impressive, Mr. Sato," he answered.

"Please, call me Hiroshi," Mr. Sato had expressed. "So, my daughter tells me you're dirt poor."

"Huh? Uh, well, I…"

"It's absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. I, too, came from humble beginnings. I was about your age when I had my first job. A mere show-shiner, and all I had to my name was an idea: The Satomobile (he then points to one that was nearing completion). I was fortunate enough to meet a man that believed in my work ethic. He gave me the money I needed to get my idea off the ground, and I was able to build the entire business empire from that one, selfless loan."

"Oh, stop bragging, Dad," went Asami to her father, "just tell Mako the good news."

"News? What good news?" Mako asked, confused.

-x-

"…I didn't think Jinora could throw such a fit when the doctor told her to eat more," Rohan told Yue and Jin, who had heard their pregnant relative yell at one of the island's doctors.

"Oh, she can raise her voice remarkably high," Jin expressed. "I should know. I mean, she once yelled at me earlier this year."

"Mood swings," Yue explained to them. "It's normal…though often unexpected."

They were going to see how well Korra was making progress with her Airbending training. Further down the way toward one of the open spaces where Airbenders trained, they spotted Tenzin, standing in front of something that made them wonder what it was. When they got to where he was standing, they received quite a shock: A Satomobile, with a large ribbon tied around its front, and Yuki, Ibuki and Kyoko were playing in it. It was so unbelievable that even Jin felt the same way Tenzin was feeling, which was mild disgust at Tarrlok's continued persistence.

"Brrrroom! Brrroom!" One of the three girls, Ibuki, made car sounds.

"Outta the way, you four!" Yuki told them. "We're driving across the Si Wong Desert to Ba Sing Se!"

"Beep! Beep, beep, beep!" Ibuki continued to make car sounds as Yue walked around the vehicle, giving the girls a slight chuckle; she didn't even want to know how that car got there.

"Beep-beep!" Kyoko expressed, albeit less noisy like her fellow Airbenders.

On the training grounds, Korra was at work again with her Airbending, still yet to manipulate the air currents around her.

"It seems like Tarrlok's gifts to you are becoming more and more extravagant," Rohan told her.

"Yeah," she responded, trying to stay focused on what she was doing, performing the twirling, circular motions that Airbenders did. "He simply…doesn't know how to take 'no' for an answer."

"The word 'no' isn't even in his vocabulary," Jin expressed. "Korra, are you doing alright?"

"Yeah, of course," she answered him. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Somehow, all four adults could see that Korra was anything but fine, but making an effort to hide whatever woe she had.

"Why don't you take a break, Korra?" Rohan suggested. "You've been at this for over three hours."

She stopped and sat on the stone steps. Then, Yue and Jin sat with her.

"You're getting better at moving like an Airbender," Yue praised her.

"Thank you."

"Korra… Well, uh, while we're all glad that you turned down Tarrlok's offer…we're just hoping that you did so for the right reasons," Jin revealed, albeit with a heavy tone of hesitation.

She understood him and responded, "I do want to stop the Equalists and bring Amon to justice, but I must master Airbending first. So…I need to focus on that before dealing with them…eventually."

"Yeah," agreed Rohan, who also seemed to be beating around the bush like Jin was. "That's your primary reason for being here."

Yue looked away from them and at the symbol on the training grounds that reminded her of the Moon and Ocean Spirits. It seemed that denial was something everyone was saying about the situation concerning Amon and the Equalists, not wanting to be viewed as weak or pathetic. She knew that was true; denial was the first part of experiencing fear, and then there's anger and acceptance…but people tended to hold onto denial until they're forced to admit they're afraid of the source of the fear they have within them.

"I'd best own up to it," she then said to them. "I'm terrified of Amon and what he can do. There, I finally said it."

"You? Terrified of Amon?" Korra questioned her. "But you're a powerful bender. I doubt he's a match for you."

"I doubt I could ever defeat someone like that. At least…not without knowing them first. Some people believe that if you know someone that could be an enemy as much as you know yourself, then many victories can be obtained without the suffering of any losses."

"According to Fire Nation history," said Jin, who had also versed himself in learning about the other three nations of the Four Nations, "a former war minister that had attacked the original Northern Air Temple had said that a defeat can also be the gateway to many victories in the future. When you view that from a different perspective, one can learn what went wrong in previous conflict or engagement and find a way to work around it next time. Oh!"

"What?" Rohan, Korra and Yue asked him, as he looked like realization hit him.

"What Amon did at the rally you mentioned," he explained. "You said he did something that enabled him to take a bender's bending away. Korra, when you saw him do it to one of the members of the bending triads, did any happen between Amon and the bender that was similar to what Yue did to Tenzin, Lin and Bolin?"

Korra thought about it for a moment, recalling that Yue's Energybending abilities were revealed when her body started to glow, along with Bolin's, Lin's and Tenzin's when she used them to restore their bending, realizing that nothing of the sort, not even glowing auras of similar proportions, happened between Amon and Lightning Bolt Zolt. It was as though Amon was on a different level or something else altogether. But if Yue displayed such an ability when she used it, then it had to be common for other Energybenders of the past to do so before the arrival of the first Avatar.

"No, nothing," she answered him. "He touched Lightning Bolt Zolt on his head, and then his Firebending ceased. There was no glow, not even in the eyes, even though Amon was wearing a mask."

"What does that make you think, Jin?" Rohan asked him.

"Besides what Amon is truly capable of? That we should ask the only three people we know what else they might've experienced in the moment Amon took their bending away. But I don't want to reopen painful wounds that have been mended already."

"But…if it's to stop this madman," they each turned to see Tenzin, who overheard them the instant he left the little girls alone in the Satomobile, "then some wounds deserve to be reopened for a short time."

Jin bowed his head in respect, along with Rohan; neither wanted to hurt the elder, but needing more information was a necessity.

"The only other thing I know from when Amon touched me, there was a moment where I felt like my muscles were being twisted and moved on their own, without my will to guide them," he revealed to them. "It was like my body was being told to stop bending. But when Yue restored my bending, it was like I was taking a step backwards, back to before I lost my bending."

"When I gave Sokka the ability to Waterbend, he described the sensation as though he were lifted off his feet…along with feeling like he could do anything." Yue explained her husband's experience with being Energybended in order to Waterbend.

"So…with all the similarities of Energybending…and what Amon is capable of," went Rohan, "the Equalist leader might not possess the ability like Yue does or Aang and the past Avatars that knew of it and used it did…"

"But he demonstrates a passable substitute of the ability," Jin cut him off. "The only question now is: How is he able to do it?"

"That's probably the greatest question of them all," Yue expressed.

-x-

_If Amon can't use Energybending, then what is it he's doing to the benders? _Korra wondered, a little crazy trying to wrap her head around the guy that had a hatred against benders, good and bad.

It had been at least a day since Tarrlok had sent her that Satomobile, but she did not reconsider joining his task force; in addition, the only thing Korra ever ridden in her years since she started her Avatar training was her Polar Bear Dog, and she wasn't really interested in driving lessons. She swore that the next time she saw the councilman's page, she was going to lay it straight that the Northern Water Tribe representative was trying for the impossible. As the Avatar, she was independent of the rules and regulations of the nations and forms of law and order, acting out in the interests of order and balance. And there was very little faith in her that law and order were going to aid her in dealing with the Equalists once she became a Fully Realized Avatar.

"Avatar Korra!" She looked up at the sight of the council page of Tarrlok's, once more arriving with something from the Northern Water Tribe representative. "I have something for you!"

But Korra decided that enough was enough and got up off the steps of the outside of the women's dormitory and Earthbended the ground beneath the page into a circle and turned him around.

"It doesn't really matter how many gifts Tarrlok sends me," she expressed to him, venting her mild anger out, "I'm not joining his task force!"

"It's not a gift, but an invitation," the page explained, just as Yue walked out of the dorm; she had felt the vibrations of Korra's Earthbending.

"What's going on this time, sir?" She kindly asked the council page.

"Invitation." The page repeated, handing the card in his hands to Korra, who, in turn, handed it to Yue. "Councilman Tarrlok is hosting a gala in honor of Avatar Korra's arrival to Republic City."

"Oh, really?" Yue questioned, looking over the invitation, wondering what this fellow member from her tribe was really up to this party.

"All of the city's movers and shakers will be in attendance," the page explained, "and he humbly requests that you attend, too."

_Being invited to a party was really the last thing on my list of things to do in Republic City,_ thought Yue, as she handed the card back to Korra. "Well, then, Korra, I believe we should all attend. To not attend would make us burdened with guilt and disrespect."

Korra really wanted to say that she didn't want to attend, primarily out of not wanting to be duped into joining Tarrlok's task force, and partly because, due to it being a party, she didn't have the right attire. But instead of speaking her mind, she nodded in the positive and gave the invitation another look over for the time and place, saying that she'll be there. Now she had another problem: What to wear?

-x-

Yue was often unsure of what her kind of parties were. Were they the kind where everyone wore their best and wandered around, talking about important matters, or were they the kind where everyone simply tried to enjoy their time, listening to music, cracking a few jokes and dancing the night away? She deduced that, back when she was younger, during the One-Hundred Year War, the night she had in the Earth King's palace paled in comparison to the secret party in the cave on one of the islands of the Fire Nation. Still, a party was a party, but this was one she didn't quite fancy.

The night was young, but most of the city's important people were anything but young. And City Hall, the site of the party, was quite the place to be right now for many of the driving forces around the United Republic of Nations, with the potential exception of the Air Nation itself. Many were dressed in their best, most anxious to meet their new Avatar in person for the first time after the passing of the previous one. A person could go mad surrounded by this much attention, and it probably took all of Korra's effort, as she was sporting an elegant version of her regular attire, to keep from bending out of pressure at the people looking at her. Though Yue wouldn't blame her if she did; if anything, she'd be grateful if she did, for it would probably give her some excitement.

"I can't believe Tarrlok would throw a party like this to introduce the Avatar to the city formally," went the voice of what appeared to be a rather moody Lin Beifong, accompanied by her children, Po Kong and Dai Gui.

"Do you…suspect him of something, Ms. Beifong?" She asked Lin.

"Yes, I do," she responded. "I can understand your great-granddaughter means well, and wants to help the city, but she hasn't really done anything to deserve this much attention."

Yue sighed and bowed her head to Lin, who bowed back and walked away. But then she came back, as if having something else to say to her.

"Thank you again for what you did, Lady Yue," she praised her, reminding the much older woman that she Energybended the former Chief of Police and restored her bending.

"Again, you're welcome," Yue told her.

Po Kong and Dai Gui bowed their heads to Yue and left to accompany their mother, but Yue stopped Dai Gui, who, in contrast to his sister, looked a lot like the guy that portrayed Toph from the Ember Island Players over a century ago, except that his hair didn't cover his green eyes.

"I know it's not my business asking, but…is your mother alright?" She asked him. "She seems rather…upset about something, and I just need to know if it's something Korra might've done."

"Oh, it's nothing like that, Lady Yue," he explained his mother's mood. "She's moody, but not towards Korra. It's Amon and the Equalists that she's angry about. With her anger at these vigilantes that kidnapped her, she wants to see justice served against all of them. Sometimes, I wonder if she misses being the boss, the head honcho of the Metalbenders."

"I couldn't possibly imagine her enjoying anything else," Yue made a small joke.

"I wouldn't blame her," he agreed with her, and then left.

Yue then wandered around until she found a few chairs by a wall and sat down; she had once considered procuring a cane after she turned one-hundred-fifteen, but had decided against it. Now, she was considering it again. As she rested her feet, Korra showed up, looking frustrated about something other than the celebrity status she acquired in front of everybody, and sat next to her in the seat on her right, resting her feet.

"What happened to you?" She asked her.

"Nothing," she lied.

"Nice try, but I can see that something's on your mind," Yue stated, having been around Korra since the day she started her training in mastering Waterbending. "What's wrong?"

"I saw Mako here," she finally confessed.

"Mako of the Fire Ferrets? The one we know of?"

"Yeah. I found out from him and Bolin that the guy that runs the Satomobile manufacturing empire will be sponsoring the Fire Ferrets for the Pro-Bending tournament."

"What? Why, that's great. Congratulations, Korra," Yue praised her and her friends, but took another look at her and saw the small frown still present. "But…I'm guessing that that's not why you're upset."

"Nope. It's who I saw Mako with that bugs me," Korra explained, revealing to Yue that she saw Mako with the guy's daughter, which got Yue thinking that her great-granddaughter, being ruled by her emotions due to lack of spiritual training, had a crush on the Firebender.

"Don't let it get to you," Yue offered her advice.

"Thanks."

-x-

Of the many things in a night that could go so wrong, the one thing Rohan found very wrong was Korra being manipulated by Tarrlok, who manipulated the press of Republic City into asking the Avatar questions that she unable to answer properly…and igniting her temper and causing her to say she would join Tarrlok's task force if the city itself required her to do so. And he found himself embarrassed to recall he once considered trying to join the council as the Air Nation representative, only to find that he couldn't stomach the presence of the other members of the council, most of whom seemed to be rather misguided in their priorities of leading the fifth nation. He'd done his research on the council, past and present members, and was displeased with how, prior to his father standing down as the Air Nation representative, the previous incarnation of the council was made up of benders, but then Jin changed some of that with the return of a non-bending individual as part of the current council. At least the elder members of his family, Tenzin and Yue above the others, didn't suffer so much as a heart attack after hearing that Korra would join the task force, though he suspected that Korra was afraid of Amon's ability to take people's bending away and was putting up an aggressive front, a facade, to hide her fear and insecurities from them.

"So much for it being a pleasant night," went his sister, Ikki, as the family flew back to Air Temple Island on their father's Sky Bison, Oogi.

"I'm hungry," went Meelo, which confused Yue and Korra, both of whom saw him eating enough to feed eight Airbenders.

"But you ate over half an hour ago," Yue stated. _How much can he eat at any party he gets invited to?_

"Yeah, I know," he responded, "except that onion-banana juice I had before we left made me hungry again. Why did they have to serve it?"

"I tried it a few times, and I felt the same way: Hungry," Yue sympathized with him.

"That stuff just made me go to the bathroom," Jinora expressed.

"At the party or earlier this year?" Korra asked her.

"Earlier this year," she explained, patting her large belly.

"I know how you feel," Pema sympathized with her eldest daughter; she, too, had tried the onion-banana juice in her first pregnancy and every time she drunk some, it was a race against the clock to get to the bathroom.

By the light of the moon, none of the passengers in Oogi's saddle were at ease after the Avatar had joined the task force to meet the wants of the city.

"Grrr," growled Oogi, flying down towards the island sanctuary.

-x-

Ever since the night of the Avatar's honor party, it seemed like Korra's workload, which had been reduced by Rohan, had been increased by the hours Tarrlok's task force worked under. The first night of their mission to bring down the Equalists, she had participated in tracking down Equalists that hid out in plain view during the day, the second night included information gathering on Equalist locations where people were trained in the art of chi blocking, and the last eight days were raiding said locations and capturing Equalists and the people training to become members of the group. For the city, these were good accomplishments in taking down the people that demonstrated a grudge against the benders…but to a few associated with the Avatar, it was clearly a sign of events that would escalate in ways far worse than before. It was only two weeks since the party, but it felt more like a month of so after the first few days Korra participated in the raids and capture of several Equalists, bringing in more than eighty-four members and trainees, and the Avatar feeling, more or less, cut off from family and friends because of her new responsibility to the city.

As Korra participated in the raids, captures and information gathering, Yue frequently visited the Pro-Bending Arena in the hopes that her great-granddaughter was at least making time to see her fellow Pro-Benders and friends.

"Hello again, Lady Yue," went Toza, who was sweeping the floor of his gym, as Mako and Bolin were sitting around, looking defeated rather than exhausted.

"I guess," she sighed, "Korra was unable to show up for practice again?"

"Exactly," he answered her, setting his broom aside, "and these two aren't too happy about her absence. They know the city as a whole needs the Avatar, but they, as friends and Pro-Benders, need her."

"I know, and I heard of their good fortune the night of the party," she explained. "She's hardly at the Air Temple Island, either…except when she needs to sleep."

"Say, couldn't you tell her to take a leave from the task force or something?" Toza asked, getting a cup of water for himself and handing one over to her. "You're supposed to be her great-grandmother, right? And you're the only Water Tribe relative of hers that's currently in the United Republic with her. So, she respects your opinion and advice."

Yue drank from the cup and sighed, "I would tell her if I knew where she was when not here or the island. The last thing I need to worry about is her getting…getting…"

Her consciousness froze as that awful day replayed itself in her mind. The people on the streets, Aang and her husband facing Yakone, the sensation of Bloodbending being used, and the screams of heartache and pain with the desires of justice and retribution. The memory affected her so much that she dropped her cup and fell to her knees.

"Lady Yue!" Mako gasped, as he and Bolin got up and rushed to her aid.

"Miss Yue!" Bolin slowly helped her back and into a chair. "Yue? Are you alright?"

Yue shook her head and expressed that she was fine, just a little drained; earlier before she left the island, Tenzin informed her that, being the closest person to Korra, she was going to make herself sick worrying too much about her. And it looks like she nearly did by unintentionally thinking back to her darkest memory.

"Korra," she uttered, "I need to find her. Tell her to stop trying to go after Amon and the Equalists for now. She's matured too fast and has no time for fun and games, like Aang when he was training to be the Avatar."

"…If you're man enough to face me, Amon," they all heard Korra's voice on the radio, catching their attention, "then meet me at midnight tonight on Aang Memorial Island. No task force, no chi blockers. Just you and me. Let's cut to the chase and settle this once and for all."

"Uh-oh," Toza expressed, never expecting to hear an Avatar say that on the radio. "Uh, please, tell me she's only kidding."

"A victim to her emotions and the desperation of the city's people to stop the Equalists," Yue responded, "Korra's able to say anything without really thinking, even when questioned by people and having no time to properly think on the answers."

"Well, since she gave a place and time on where and when to meet, you got four-and-a-half hours before midnight," said Mako to Yue.

"And probably less time than that to try and talk her out of it," she responded, "that is, of course, if Rohan hasn't tried to already. He's been listening to the radio more than I do."

-x-

As she waited on the top of the museum of the island, Korra lost track of the time, with the exception of the fact that it was nearing midnight. She had hoped that Amon would be man enough to face her here. As she grew up training under the bending masters back in the Southern Water Tribe, she learned that Avatars from the past put in their places any that dared to stand up to them for their own, immoral and greedy reasons…along with making them look anywhere from stupid to pathetic in the process of defeating them, and she would do the same to the Equalist leader threatening to remove bending from the world. When all was said and done, Amon would be beaten, turned over to the authorities, brought to justice, locked away and made a fool of by others brought to justice. She'll have faced the man that frightens benders with just his voice and his ability to remove bending, which may have not been a power bestowed upon him by the spirits.

"Korra!" She looked up and saw a bison flying down toward her, accompanied by an elderly woman in blue clothing.

"Yue?" She questioned, seeing her great-grandmother climb off her bison and approach her. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to get you to stop this foolishness you're committing," she answered. "This isn't right, Korra, and you know it deep down. You don't really think Amon will actually face you by himself, do you? If Amon's anything of an honorable combatant, he would've done so earlier when he made himself known. There's no honor in him, no decency, no respect for others. He's a monster in every sense of the word and there is no way he would face you the way you want him to. Turn away from this and leave Tarrlok's task force, give up this priority of chasing the Equalists for now. Come back to Air Temple Island with me."

The young Avatar was touched by her grandmother's words and touched further by her reaching out to her with her left hand. She slowly raised hers to connect…until…

DING! The clock struck midnight on the island's museum, which surprised both women.

"Oh," Yue exhaled. "It was just the clock."

"Yeah," Korra agreed with her. "The clock."

They climbed off the roof of the building and set foot on the ground, accompanied by the bison Korra.

"So much for that so-called fleet of airships Tarrlok said would be around if something went wrong," Korra expressed.

"I didn't see any airships while up in the sky," Yue confessed to her. "Maybe Tarrlok was just saying that for the sake of sounding tough or something."

"I think Jin might be the only member of the council that has any sense to admit anything."

"I believe that Jin is the only member on the council that understands that situations like this anti-bending unrest require both sides, benders and non-benders, to sit and talk about their problems. The United Republic was built mainly on the dream that people of all Four Nations could get along and coexist peacefully in one place. How'd something so simple like this go so wrong in the years this place has been around?"

"Maybe it's really the inequality plaguing it. Maybe there is some bias between the benders and non-benders, and that's why the Equalists exist. I know I said that bending is the greatest thing to have ever happened in the world, but it seems like there's a measure of jealousy that the non-benders demonstrate. I was out there earlier and I heard a non-bending couple say that the bending triads are some the cruelest examples of benders abusing their power…and yet, they get recognized more than the little people, those that have yet to make themselves known and heard by the city."

"That's why we gotta sit down and converse more about all this. If we just get to the root of this and handle it peacefully, we can avoid further unrest."

"And sometimes, I wonder why you weren't on the council years ago… Aaaaahh!" Korra gasped, soon followed by Yue, who felt a rope tighten around her left leg.

SWOOP! Something from within the museum pulled them in and in quite a hurry, dragging them to the center of the largest chamber, surrounded by separate murals depicting past Avatars from the Four Nations in reverse chronological order.

"Urgh!" Yue grunted, trying to get up, but was then grabbed by her arms from behind along with Korra.

"I had received the invitation to face the Avatar," announced none other than Amon himself, appearing in front of at least a dozen or so Equalist members, "but I didn't expect to meet Lady Yue of the Northern Water Tribe, one of the tribe's most prominent members and Republic City's Water Tribe and Air Nomad people person."

"Oh, I wish I could say I was honored to finally meet you in person, but then I'd be lying to myself," Yue expressed, not trying to stand up for herself or Korra. "Before you do anything, I have just one question. Why'd you go and capture my Airbending nephew, Tenzin? He hasn't done anything to deserve the contempt of the Equalists or abused his power in any way that could trigger some degree of hatred. The Airbending people are peaceful."

"Oh, that's because nobody's innocent," Amon answered her. "Nobody, however peaceful, however subtle, is innocent, not even the innocent."

"And that belief is the reason you kidnapped an elderly man that used to be on the council before he retired from old age? That's your only reason for taking away the bending of an elderly master that only kept the peace between the benders and non-benders? Wow. That's…that's really stupid of you to think of such a belief. Nobody's innocent, not even the innocent? So, now what? You're here, my granddaughter's here… What, you're gonna stoop down to the level of a cheat and face her while restrained by your people?"

Amon looked at Korra and expressed, "A showdown with the Avatar, while inevitable, is premature, Lady Yue. While it would be the simplest thing to remove her bending, I won't right now. I won't even take your bending away right now, Lady Yue. If I did, well…it'd be the end of a person whose bending is just as remarkable as the Avatar herself, but with the Avatar, she'd just be a martyr, and benders from allover would rally up behind her demise. But I assure you two, I have thought this through very thoroughly. I will save the both of you for last, especially you, young Avatar. And when the day comes to our duel, I will destroy you."

Then, without warning, Amon struck both women in the neck, knocking them out!

-x-

"…Yue…Yue…" Yue heard a voice, one she hadn't heard in over a century, as she came to in a misty forest lit up by lanterns.

"Huh? What?" She muttered, raising her left hand to hold her head, but stopped to see that her hand wasn't the same as she last saw it; it was young and slender, not old and withered.

She looked around and saw a source of water in the form of a lake and went over to it, examining her face in the reflection shown. She was young again, back in her teens, with her hair both brown and white, full of life. There was only one explanation for this, and that was…

"I'm in the Spirit World? Again?" She uttered, just in time to see ripples in the water in front of her as a creature rose up from under the glassy surface of the lake.

"Yue," a male voice, the same voice that woke her up, uttered out as the creature dripped water off its chimeric form.

"Inga? The Spirit of Causality?" Yue identified the spirit. "But…what am I doing here in the Spirit World? I thought I had been informed of everything I needed to know about my future that I was allowed to know. Or…has everything I come to know of changed recently…and I'm dead now?"

"No, Yue, you're far from dead," Inga expressed. "But causality is a powerful truth in the mortal realm and the Spirit World. Everything done affects everything else yet to be done. The reason you're here…is to know that the Avatar will need your help, your guidance, in order to deal with a threat that mocks the spirits of this world. Someone claims to have been bestowed the power to remove bending from the mortal realm."

"I know. He calls himself Amon, but I don't believe he has a power bestowed upon him by the spirits. If anything…I think he uses a different form of chi blocking that has long-term effects on benders."

"Maybe, or it is something…more severe than so. You must find out what it is that he is doing to benders and aid in stopping him. I have foreseen an awful vision of the people of the United Republic screaming agony, forced to hide wherever they could in places they felt was safe from the fear of war and loss."

Then, the fog built up and enveloped the chimeric feline serpent, and Yue felt herself losing consciousness again. It was a feeling she loathed at times involving visits to the Spirit World.

-x-

"…Korra! Yue!" A male voice called out to the fallen ladies, just as Korra came to, seeing a shadowy figure run over toward them.

"Rohan?" She asked, her vision clearing up.

"Ah," Yue groaned as she held her head in her right hand. "Are you alright, Korra?"

"I think so," she answered, and then Rohan came and helped them up to their feet.

"I had decided to come back to try and talk you out of facing Amon," Rohan explained his presence, "but by the time I got here, I saw several Equalists fleeing."

"It was Amon," Yue explained. "He ambushed us as we were leaving."

"Did he…take your bending?" He asked, fearful of the answer; if Korra lost her bending, that was it, and if Yue lost hers, then the hope of restoring bending was lost.

Yue held up her left hand and created a small tornado, indicating that she still possessed her bending, while Korra created a small flame in her right hand before closing it into a fist.

"We're fine," Korra sighed.

"We're anything but fine," Yue expressed.

They quietly left out of the museum and climbed aboard Yue's bison's saddle. When they were seated, Korra grunted and took to the air, heading back to Air Temple Island.

"You were right, you know, Grandmother," went Korra to Yue.

"What do you mean?" She questioned.

"Amon's a monster…and I was terrified of him," the Avatar explained, finally admitting that she was afraid of the Equalist leader. "What he can do frightens me. I have never felt so fearful or helpless."

Yue held her in a warm embrace and said, "If anyone's ever going to conquer their fears, the first thing they need to do is admit that they're afraid of who or what frightens them. The more we hide our fears, the more we deny them…and the more they consume us."

"To overcome our fears is to survive and face the new day, having endured torment," added in Rohan, to which Yue nodded in agreement.

"Grrr," growled the bison Korra, as she hovered down toward the island sanctuary.

A/N: Here's another completed chapter. As always, read and review, please.


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